#and now I finally have. even though I don’t have any F/Os from the game (apart from the one crush.. but she’s just a crush from last year)

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

Yesterday (the 26th of July) was the fourth anniversary of Three Houses, but instead of finally working more on the timeskip design for my self-insert (Catarina), I managed to get around to designing my TWEWY self-insert instead (who is basically an AU version of Aria).

Today (the 27th of July) is the anniversary of the first TWEWY game, even though TWEWY!Aria only appears in the second game and I also didn’t know this until after I’d made that design yesterday. So, clearly, the best way to commemorate this anniversary today would be to finish my Three Houses self-insert design =P

[danniburgh]

Give you what you want (Javier Peña x f!reader x Horacio Carrillo)

Pairing: Javier Peña x f!reader x Horacio Carrillo

Summary: You’ve been crushing hard on Javier - and Colonel Carrillo. And when they both find out about it, they can’t help but indulge you.

Word count: +11.1k

Chapter warnings: mild angst, mentions of violence, divorce talk, discussion of polyamorous relationship. OT3 SMUT, oral (m and f receiving), fingering, double penetration, alcohol, a lot of cum lol

A/N: this is a collab between me, @maharani-radha-writes​ and @queenofthefaceless, okay, yes this is a repost (basically the blog in which this os was posted blocked me). originally posted on april 6th 2021

ao3 // Masterlist // ko-fi

comments and reblogs are eternally appreciated 💓

Carrillo slammed his face on the steering wheel of his car with a groan. He had just spent all day in court finalizing his divorce—which had been going on for months—and just as he had gotten home, he realized that he had forgotten his service pistol at the office. Something he was not allowed to bring in the courtroom.

Fuckers.

He had separation anxiety from it, so even though he had multiple spares in the house, he had one trusty weapon, and he wouldn’t be caught dead without it. He glanced at the clock, and saw that it was only eight o’clock, so it wasn’t too late for him to swing back to base and grab it. Shaking his head, he turned the ignition of his car back on and reversed out of his driveway to head back to the station.

When he got there, he used his keys to enter through the back doorway, not really wanting to have to greet the guards at the front. He was just… way too done with people that day. Although he and his by then ex-wife had separated amicably (or as amicably as it could get), the divorce had taken a huge toll on him. He and Juliana had separated about five months before, and he had spent that time sitting in lawyers’ conference rooms, arguing over this and that. He was ready to just give her everything and anything she wanted if it meant he could get that painful process over with.

Truth be told, Carrillo was lonely. He had been for a long time, even while he was still married to Juliana. They had been less of a married couple and more like roommates for the past year at least, and it was getting to them both. His job was tough and dangerous–Juliana didn’t understand a lot of it. To be fair, he kept most of it from her, but that got exhausting after a while. He longed to just...let go, and he couldn’t do that with her. And after a while, she had decided that staying married to him (and his job) was more trouble than it was worth. He couldn’t blame her, not one bit.

It didn’t matter any more. He had firmly closed that chapter of his life, and was ready to move on. He didn’t know what the future looked like for him, but the only thing that he was sure of was that Pablo Escobar would be dead. He would make sure of it–even if he died trying.

After finding his service pistol, which had been stuffed in a holster under his desk, Carrillo closed the door to his office, and proceeded to walk down the hallway to the back exit. But he stopped when he heard voices coming from the bullpen.

Odd.

He hadn’t seen anyone when he had come in. He turned slightly and strained his ears to try to see if he could discern who it was. Then he heard the distinct Southern American drawl of none other than Steve Murphy. The man had been pulling late nights in the office ever since his wife got up and left him.

“All right, kiddo, care to tell me what the fuck your problem is?”

Who–? Was “kiddo”? It certainly couldn’t be Peña. It was a Friday night, surely Peña was off….doing something (or someone) else.

“What’s my problem? What’s your problem, Murph?”

Oh, it was you. The lone female agent of the DEA. Carrillo had been quite wary of you when you had joined the team about a year before. He really wasn’t sure what, if anything, you would be bringing to the table. And he thought that having two DEA agents was two too many already. But over time, you had proven to be a strong, capable, and intelligent partner, and his respect for you had grown.

Bringing you to Colombia had been a good decision, on the part of your superiors.

Now that he had identified the two people still stuck in the base, he should have been satisfied and been on his way. But something about Steve’s tone of voice kept him rooted to the spot. He really, really shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, especially since he was sure that it was a conversation he was not meant to hear.

“You’re on edge. A lot more than usual,” Steve said, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, Steve. Just drop it,” you grumbled.

“Oh, so there is something?” Steve snarked, “Look, I normally would back off and leave you alone, but you’ve been highly distracted lately. And it’s affecting your work. I need to know what’s up or at least confirm that you’re going to get this resolved soon because we need your head in the game.”

Now that Steve mentioned it, Carrillo had noticed that you were...not yourself. And you hadn’t been for a while. But Carrillo was too caught up in his own drama to give it much of a thought.

“I’m sorry,” you sighed, “I’ll try not to be so scatterbrained. I’ll fix it, I promise.”

“Is this what I think it is? The thing you told Connie that I’m not supposed to know about?” Steve asked.

Carrillo knew he absolutely needed to leave. That was not a conversation he should be listening to. But he just could not help it.

“You’re going to have to be more specific, Steve. I’ve told Connie a lot of things,” you chuckled, nervously.

“I mean about–” there was a pause, presumably Steve looking around to check that nobody was there, “–your feelings. For, uh, ya know, Peña?”

Oh. That was news.

“And–uh–Carrillo I think?” Steve continued.

Wait...what?

Carrillo whipped his head around so fast that he winced as his neck twinged in protest. Since when...since when did you have feelings? For him? And Peña? What was happening? Someone needed to shoot him because that could not be real.

“Must you say it aloud?” you hissed.

“I’m sorry, kiddo, I don’t mean to embarrass you,” Steve apologized, “And normally I would mind my own fucking business, but this is getting out of hand. You really don’t think I notice the cows’ eyes you make at Peña when he’s not looking?”

“I don’t do that!” you denied, indignantly.

“Okay fine, maybe that’s a bit dramatic,” Steve conceded, “But the point still stands. You definitely need to get this fixed. Have you thought, oh I don’t know, telling Peña? Or even Carrillo?”

“Are you crazy?” you stammered, “Do you have any idea what that would do to my career? Not to mention that Carrillo is...fucking married?”

“Well, he’s divorced now,” Steve clarified, “And nobody has to know. It’s nobody else’s business but yours. I’m just saying, think about it ok? You deserve an outlet, just like everyone else.”

Carrillo decided that it was best to not stay and hear what you had to say to that. Instead, he hightailed it out of the base, as quickly as he could, trying to keep his footsteps light so as not to alert you and Steve to his presence. Once he was finally in the safety of his car, he put his head back onto the seat and let out a long breath, trying to figure out what he was going to do with that information. He couldn’t deny that the idea of you having feelings for him was incredibly flattering. You were a very guarded individual and quite hard to read sometimes–not so dissimilar to him. He would have never, in a million years, guessed that you would be interested in him, and that was mostly due to your closed off persona.

But to find out that you had feelings for both him and Peña? That was an interesting development. Carrillo didn’t know how to feel about that. But he can’t deny that it intrigued him...more than it should have. His mother would be completely mortified if she found out that he was entertaining this--whatever it was.

But his mother was not here. His wife was gone, and had taken the kids with her. It was just him, and his large house. And now, apparently, you and possibly Peña. Carrillo tilted his head contemplatively and started the ignition of his car.

Maybe...just maybe, there was something to this whole charade.

**Scene Break 1**

Steve was tired. Scratch that, he was exhausted. Not physically, but mentally.

Javier had been looking at you for far too long, and Steve could taste the yearning and the tension that lingered around the office when Peña looked at you. It was maddening, and Steve had no idea how Peña had managed this long without jumping you. After all, he never seemed to have a problem getting a woman’s attention and keeping it. So, why were you so different?

And the worst part of this whole circus is that you were so blissfully unaware of it. It made Steve’s mouth foam with rage.

When he told Connie over the phone, the previous night, what you had said to him and how you had confessed to being attracted to both men, she actually convinced him to talk to Javi on your behalf. Because Connie knew you, and she knew you would just shut up about it, guard it as if you were a dragon with a treasure, never say a thing, and suffer in silence until your feelings went away. And if they didn’t. Too bad. Steve hadn’t wanted to get involved. After all, you were an adult, and Javier was an adult. You should be able to sort these things out yourself. But alas, that had not happened. And if Steve didn’t do something about it, it was going to get out of hand, quickly.

So when you got up from your desk and got out of the office, Steve walked to Javier and slammed his hand on a pile of files that Javier was almost hiding behind.

“Yes, Murphy, how can I help you?” Peña drawled, trying to keep his voice as even and unaffected as possible.

“Don’t give me that innocent bullshit, Peña,” Steve growled, “I’m so sick of you.”

“What could I have possibly done now?” Javier huffed, pulling a cigarette out of his pack and lighting it. He figured that if he played dumb, Steve would go away.

Alas.

“You, and her,” Steve said, emphasizing his point by jabbing his finger in the direction of the door you had just walked out of, “There’s something between the two of you. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”

Javier decided not to answer that. Instead he just took a puff of his cigarette and stared at Steve, daring him to continue.

“I’m serious Peña, stop playing coy. This is starting to affect your working relationship, and I’m getting sick of it,” Steve grumbled, “Do something about it. Now.”

It took a few moments of silence, but Javier finally decided to concede to Steve. Truth was, Javier’s head was full of thoughts. Full of you. Truth be told, getting infatuated with you was just a matter of time.

You were just… frustratingly attractive, incredibly strong and so damn smart. A dangerous combination, you were almost perfect. And that, scared the shit out of him. It had been a long time since Javier felt like that; he didn’t like the vulnerability of it all, he didn’t like how it was way too apparent that whatever you did, for small that it was, affected him in some way. He didn’t like the fact that he wanted to be with you all the time, see you all the time, talk to you all the time. He wanted to protect you all the time even when he knew you could perfectly protect yourself. And he had been feeling like that for months.

Javier interpreted that as karma, getting so madly, deeply into you and getting absolutely nothing in return. Until Steve chimed in, nosy as ever, to speak about something that was clear as a water drop but he just kept denying from himself.

He replayed what Steve had told him while he puffed from his cigarette and for a split second, and let himself smile at the words of his partner.

Steve was right. He was aware of how much he had been missing and how affected his job seemed to be because of how much time he spent thinking about you. It was so unlike him, and it was very unprofessional. But he just couldn’t help it.

You and your strikingly beautiful being. You letting him hold you close. You, with your hands on him. You and how sweet your lips must taste. You and how your naked body must look in the dimmed lights of his bedroom. Fuck.

So he decided, after his partner all but scolded him about being too dumb to realize, that he was going to face you and just… make things happen.

Steve smiled to himself while looking down at a file when Javier stood up from his own desk and walked out of the office.

“Attaboy,” he mumbled to himself.

**Scene Break 2**

You weren’t sure what it was, but suddenly the air in that bullpen had become oppressive, and you just needed to get out. Well, frankly...you weren’t stupid. You knew what was causing you to feel this way. It was stupid Steve and his stupid way of being right all the time, how the fuck did he do that? At some point, you were going to have to tell Javier (and possibly Carrillo, as well) how you felt, but if you could put it off for longer, you were absolutely going to do so.

You sat on the concrete wall bordering the police base, observing quietly as the citizens of Medellín went about their day, getting lunch and catching up with their colleagues. There was a man selling arepas just a few feet from you, and the smell was amazing. But no matter how tantalizing the scent was, you just couldn’t bring yourself to eat. All you needed was some air. Yeah, that’s what you needed. You’d be fine after a few moments.

Unfortunately, your peace wasn’t to last long, and as you were soon to discover, your observational skills would need a check up because Colonel Horacio Carrillo himself had just plopped himself next to you, and you hadn’t even noticed. Carrillo, for his part, waited a few moments before clearing his throat, startling you from your thoughts, and successfully getting your attention.

Ah shit.

One of the exact men that you didn’t want to deal with right now was sitting right next to you.

Joy.

“Those arepas look fantastic,” he remarked in that lovely accent you really liked, “Do you want one?”

You shook your head.

“No thank you,” you mumbled, “I’m fine.”

Carrillo hummed.

“I’m sure we could find something else if you would prefer. There’s all kinds of food in Medellín,” he replied. But you refused again.

“No, really, I’m fine. I don’t want any food,” you said.

Carrillo tilted his head and clasped his hands together, leaning forward slightly. He gave a small, almost imperceptible smirk, and if you didn’t know him so well, you would have missed it.

“I see,” he observed, amusedly, “So, then, Agent. What do you want?”

You frowned, and furrowed your eyebrows. What...what was he doing?

“I–I don’t want anything,” you replied, completely flabbergasted.

“Hmmm,” Carrillo began, “I don’t believe you. I think you want something.”

You raised your eyebrows at that. You’d never known the Colonel to be so bold.

“I want Escobar dead,” you quipped, “Same as you, I suppose.”

“Ah yes, I certainly want that,” Carrillo agreed, “But I want something else. Something that I imagine might be the same as you.”

You scratched the back of your neck, nervously, not sure where this was going.

“All right, Colonel, I’ll bite. What is it that you want?” you questioned.

Carrillo adjusted his position on the wall, turning so that he was facing you squarely. He looked you straight in the eyes before taking a deep breath, as if he was working up the courage to say something.

“You.”

You felt the air leave your lungs, Carrillo’s face was a puzzle laid before you but before you could say something else, you heard a deep, timbered voice calling your name.

You reluctantly turned around and saw Peña walking up to the both of you, you felt Carrillo shift beside you and let out a sigh, as if he knew something like that would happen.

“I was looking for you,” Javier mumbled, almost as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear but you.

“So, you found me,” your voice was shaky after the Colonel’s admission, and you tried to control it “What?”

“Can we–uh–talk?” he said, and you looked back at Carrillo.

“Can it wait?” you pleaded.

“No,” Javier declared.

“I think I know what this is about,” Carrillo announced, and you frowned at him, asking with your eyes for him to elaborate. But he just stayed quiet, looking between you and Peña.

“What do you mean?” Javier huffed, “This is a private conversation that I need to have with her.”

“I think we all need to have this conversation,” Carrillo mumbled, looking at the ground for half a second before returning his gaze to you and Javier.

“What are you two on?” you asked, frantically, “I am so confused.”

Javier glanced at the Colonel, at the way he was all but shifting around like a nervous kid. He realized Carrillo moved like he was hiding something, like he had a secret he so wanted to confess.

“Do you know something?” Javier questioned him, furrowing his brow. The Colonel turned to study him and there was a small moment in which they said nothing, and their eyes just locked.

And there, Javier saw him, as he was. Colonel Horacio Carrillo was an honorable man, everyone knew that, but as he was honorable he was dark, and Javier had a small suspicion of what he knew and was badly hiding.

Javier felt himself smirk at the man and Carrillo smirked back, and Javi knew it. Because he never misses things like that. For him is like having a sixth sense, somehow enhanced by his career and his experience. He just knows. Javier had never been indifferent to men. After all, being honest with himself, he had a little crush on Steve before he saw the wedding band. And Carrillo was… just his type. He never thought he would have the chance to even get closer to the Colonel like that. In the end, the time was not right and he was quite sure Carrillo wasn’t like that.

Clearly, he had been mistaken.

“Okay you two, I’ve had enough,” you grumbled, “What is going on? I’m sick of these games.”

“This is not a game,” Carrillo said, finally looking at you, you felt your frown get deeper.

“Then what is it?” you demanded.

Javier shrugged and took one last look at Carrillo, as if to confirm his consent, and replied.

“An arrangement,” he deadpanned, “With both of us.”

“If you want it,” Carrillo added, quickly.

You shot up from the wall you were sitting on and turned to glare at both of them. Javier put his hands on his waist and leaned on a leg, and Carrillo stood up as well, clasped hands in front of him, just waiting for you to say something. Anything.

Javier glanced nervously at Carrillo from the corner of his eye, searching his face for any sign of hesitation. I hope this is gonna go how you were planning, Carrillo, he thought, Because if it doesn’t and she refuses to speak to me again after this...I swear to god–

“Where did you get this idea?” you blabbered, feeling the sting of nervousness and insecurity settling into your stomach. Along with something else in your lower belly you refused to acknowledge at all.

Javier sighed, and shook his head.

“Steve Murphy has a big mouth,” he murmured.

“Dios mío,” you exclaimed, “He told you both?”

“Well, he told me,” Javier said, running a hand through his hair, “I don’t know about our Colonel over here.”

Now it was Carrillo’s turn to look sheepish.

“No, he didn’t say anything to me,” Carrillo admitted, “I overheard the two of you talking the other day.”

“You eavesdropped on me?” you gasped, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Is nothing I say private?”

Carrillo at least had the grace to look ashamed.

“It was an accident,” he tried to assure you, “But–I don’t regret listening in. I haven’t stopped thinking about it. About you.”

You scrubbed your face with your hands, trying to figure out what you were going to do. It wasn’t that you were–unhappy–more so embarrassed. You’d been carrying this secret for a long time now, and to have it so out in the open made you feel more exposed than ever. And you hated the feeling.

“I’m gonna need a minute,” you said, “Can we talk about this later? I need some space.”

Without waiting for a response, you briskly walked away from the police base and in the direction of the city. You weren’t sure where you were going or when you were going to be back. All that you knew was that your privacy had been massively violated, and you needed some space to collect yourself. Alone. And perhaps when you had calmed down, you could think about Carrillo and Peña’s proposal, like a functioning adult. But right now, you were too embarrassed (and aroused, let’s be real), to think straight.

Javier turned aside to look at Carrillo when your figure had disappeared into the city.

“So,” Javier broke the not-so-awkward silence, “Are you okay with this?”

Carrillo huffed at the question and glanced at the agent, noticing in him things he hadn't noticed before.

“Are you?”

Javier felt his stomach drop at the Colonel’s question… interesting.

“I’m all in,” he replied, smirking at Carrillo.

“Yo también.”

**Scene Break 3**

It was later in the afternoon by the time you had calmed down enough to return to work. You couldn’t believe what had happened today. You absolutely wanted to smack Steve. What you had told him was in confidence, and he had broken that trust. But you couldn’t deny that you were happy with the result. The idea of having even just one of those two men was enough to get you going, but both?

Men like them?

The pool of arousal was already forming in between your legs.

You could not deny how much you had wanted this, and how much you had been dreaming about it. And for a very long time. For god’s sake, you had lost sleep over this shit. It made you feel dirty, filthy, unprofessional. But you just couldn’t help it. You’d done a decent enough job of keeping your feelings in check, but now the cat was out of the bag.

And not only did these two men know how you felt. Apparently, they felt the same way. And for some godforsaken reason, they wanted you.

Were you really going to say no to an opportunity like that? Were you truly that stupid? No matter how much you were angry with Steve.

Connie would lose her shit when you'd call her to tell her about her husband’s work.

You walked into the bullpen and saw the office door opened, the first thing you saw was Javier’s face buried inside a file, his posture rigid and his hands grasping at the folder as if it were a lifeline.

He looked up and his eyes went wide when he saw you walk in.

But then you saw Murphy, sitting like nothing had happened and you saw red. You rushed at him and without a word your hand flew and you smacked him on the back of the head.

“What the fuck?” he yelled, and you heard Javier laughing behind you.

“You asshole,” you hissed, “Exactly what made you think it was a good idea to tell him? I trusted you to keep your mouth shut.”

“Excuse me,” Steve groaned, rubbing the back of his head, “I did you a fucking favor. I got tired of hanging around with you two idiots, just looking at each other and not saying shit.”

“You should not have done that,” you growled, fixing him with what you hoped was your most intimidating glare.

“Perhaps not,” Steve shrugged, “But I don’t regret it.”

“Can I–say something?” Javier asked behind you.

“No. Shut up.” you hissed without looking back at him.

“You do something like this again, and I’ll kill you,” you threatened Steve before storming out of the base, and into the parking lot. You sat in the driver’s seat of your car and banged your head against the steering wheel. You had had every intention of finding Peña and Carrillo and taking them up on their offer, but now all feelings of boldness had been once again replaced by shame and embarrassment. No doubt you were the talk of the police base, what with your massive crush on two of your colleagues.

Although you knew it was irrational, you couldn’t help but feel as though Carrillo and Peña were making fun of you. You knew it was stupid. Both of them were grown-ass men. They wouldn’t be so immature. If they didn’t like you at all, they would have just left you alone. But you just couldn’t help the raging insecurity you were feeling. Perhaps if you had actually told both of them, directly, how you felt, rather than let Steve Murphy do the hard work, then maybe you wouldn’t be feeling this way.

But that was all water under the bridge now, you supposed.

Later that night, you were heating up a pitiful TV-dinner in your apartment, not feeling up to eating, but you needed something, when your phone rang. You froze with the fork halfway to your mouth. There were only a handful of people who had your landline number, and even then, only a few of those people would have the guts to actually call it. This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation.

Sighing, you trudged over to the phone and lifted the receiver to your ear.

“¿Sí?” you asked, quietly, and you heard the low voice of Colonel Carrillo on the other end.

“It’s me,” he said softly, “You left work rather abruptly. I called to see if you were fine.”

“As fine as I can be, given the circumstances,” you grumbled.

“I’m sorry that things transpired the way they did, truly,” Carrillo mumbled, sounding genuinely apologetic, “But I meant it when I said I don’t regret finding out.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” you snarked, “You’re not the one whose colleague breached her trust.”

There was a pause before Carrillo spoke again.

“Do you regret it?”

Now it was your turn to pause, contemplating your words and how you would respond. You didn’t want to hurt him, but at the same time, you wanted to make it clear that you weren’t pleased with the means---even if the end was fantastic.

“I regret how this started,” you replied, slowly, not trusting yourself to say anything further.

Carrillo hummed over the line, contemplating your words.

“I can’t blame you for that,” he said, “But forget about Steve for a moment, please. Have you thought about it?”

You inhaled and held your breath for ten counts, trying to calm down your racing heart. You couldn’t deny that just the mere thought of being in the same room with these two men, especially in a non-platonic setting, was difficult for you.

“I think you know the answer to that, Colonel. You aren’t stupid,” you quipped, “Have you discussed this with Peña? I must admit, I am surprised at you both. This doesn’t seem like something either of you would be interested in.”

“We’ve discussed this, absolutely,” Carrillo said, recalling the deeper conversation he had with Peña earlier that day after you had slapped Steve, “I think we’ve both surprised ourselves, if I’m being honest. But if the attraction is there, it’s there. But I want you to know, there is no pressure. This only goes as far as you want it to go.”

You frowned at that.

“What do you mean?” you pressed.

“Querida,” he sighed, “What happens between the three of us–well–Peña and I know where we stand–it’s up to you now. If you don’t want this, then just say the word. We’ll pretend this conversation never happened.”

You took a shuddering breath and tried to respond as best as you can.

“I–”

“You don’t have to give me an answer now,” Carrillo interrupted gently, “Think about it. Make sure it’s what you want. Then you can let us know.”

“I–ok,” you stuttered, for lack of a better response.

“I should leave you to your evening. But think about it, and let me know what you decide ,” Carrillo said, “Have a good night, querida.”

“Sure, good night, Colonel,” you mumbled, hearing the click on the other end, indicating that Carrillo had hung up.

You passed the rest of the evening in relative silence, going about your mundane business with an extra air of heaviness. Slowly you could feel the embarrassment from the day give way to desire. As you lay by yourself in your bed, clutching at your pillow, you couldn’t help the acute sense of loneliness that you felt. After all, you hadn’t really had anyone before you came to Colombia, and your job here certainly killed whatever chance of having a relationship you might have had. It was why you had so easily fallen for both of your colleagues.

You were lonely. And they were lonely too. But it wasn’t just out of loneliness. You’d seen what Peña was like when he just wanted to have a warm body next to him. Just as it had taken courage for you to confess how you felt to Steve, it must have taken just as much strength for Carrillo and Peña to admit the same to you. This wasn’t going to be a one time thing–born out of isolation and tragedy–it would be something much more meaningful than that. You could feel it.

You glanced at the clock, seeing that it was just past midnight. Although you knew that Carrillo usually stayed up late, you didn’t want to bother him, so you dialed the number of the only other person who you knew would be up this late.

“Hello?” Javier Peña gruffed on the other end, clearly annoyed at having been woken up.

“Javier, it’s me,” you said, by way of greeting. You heard some rustling of bedsheets, no doubt Javier was fully awake now.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concern coloring his tone.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you assured him, “I just–I’ve thought about your offer. Yours and Carrillo’s.”

You heard a sharp intake of breath over the phone.

“And what do you say, cariño?” he questioned, hope ringing in his voice.

You took a deep breath, steadying yourself.

“Yes. I’m saying yes.”

**Scene Break 4**

You sat inside Javier’s car, silently, as he drove the two of you through the streets of Medellín towards Carrillo’s address. It was a Friday–exactly a week from when Carrillo had overheard you talking to Steve, and you were completely floored at how your life had changed that fast. You didn’t regret anything though, not one bit.

You were nervous though. Having one of these men was enough to make you swoon, but both? You weren’t sure what was going to happen. All you knew is that it would be a fantastic night. You just hoped that you could keep up.

A hand on your knee brought you back to the present, and you glanced over to see that Javier was eyeing you out of the corner of his eye as he drove.

“Relax, cariño,” he ordered, “It’s just us.”

You laughed.

“I know, that’s what I’m worried about,” you said, jokingly. But Javier wasn’t having it.

“Why would that make you nervous?” he asked, turning to face you when you had stopped for a red light.

“You two are my friends and colleagues,” you stated, “I don’t–want to disappoint you. Especially since we will have to go back to work after the weekend.”

Javier shook his head and pressed down harder on the accelerator, hoping that if he got you to Carrillo’s place faster, you’d stop your fatalistic thoughts.

“None of that,” he grumbled, shutting down your line of thinking as quickly as he could, “What happens between us tonight stays between us. That’s it. No pressure or expectations. Just enjoy yourself, okay?”

You nodded, not quite trusting yourself to speak. And thankfully, you didn’t have to say anything because you and Javier finally pulled up in front of Carrillo’s house. It was a much larger property than you had expected, with a beautifully-kept lawn and a mango tree just at the front of the house. It was a stunning place to live, and the thought that Carrillo had been staying there alone, with nobody to share it with, for the past several months just left you heartbroken.

Well. That was likely about to change tonight.

“You’re still sure, cariño?” Javier asked, taking your hand in his and staring at your knuckles, “If you’ve changed your mind, I can drive you back now. No questions asked.”

You shook your head.

“I’m completely sure, Javi. Don’t worry,” you assured him, and Javier nodded.

“Bueno,” he mumbled, “Let’s go.” And with that, the two of you walked up the path to Carrillo’s front door and rang the bell. Carrillo answered almost immediately, face relaxing at the sight of you.

“I hope you didn’t have too much trouble finding the place,” he greeted, stepping back to allow the two of you to enter his house.

“I have some wine if you would like,” Carrillo suggested, leading you and Javier into the kitchen after the two of you had kicked off your shoes.

Carrillo walked straight to the fridge and took out what appeared to be a pretty expensive brand of wine, but neither you nor Javier said anything in regards to it. Instead, you both sat down and exchanged a series of fugitive glances at each other.

You thought you needed the wine, the bitter, strong taste of alcohol to run through your veins in order to be able to process the moment in its entirety. But suddenly, as you glared at both Javier and Carrillo, there was no need for anything else. No liquid distraction to be drunk beforehand, no ridiculous and meaningless pleasantries or comfort words. You knew those men. You trusted them with your life every day when you went out there on the streets, and you trusted them just as much now. Their mere presence was sufficient to relax you and ease the tension, although you thought they would both agree that the tension was thicker than you could’ve imagined.

“I trust you both, and I care about you both, so damn much.”

It came out of the blue; you weren’t even sure you thought about it in your mind, and yet you said it nonetheless, standing up. Both of them seemed a little surprised by your impromptu confession, but patiently waited for your continuation, if there was any to begin with.

“What I mean is… why make this harder on ourselves? Why bother with small talk and awkward conversations when we can just… do it, enjoy the night?”

Javier was the first one who smirked. And of course he would, he was probably used to a lot of those moments, or similar ones, and had almost no issue baring it all, you thought. You swore, for a brief, almost too rushed moment, that you saw Carrillo hesitate with saying something and averting his eyes from both you and Javier, but you brushed it off. Instead, he looked tall and mighty at you, as his official position required, and smiled gallantly at you.

“You are the one in charge tonight,” he told you.

Simple, yet effective.

From the moment you heard that sentence, it did something to your ego. It gave you an unexpected boost of confidence, it sparked a desire, a flame so bright and hot you wouldn’t have believed it to be true in any other situation.

You took a few steps closer to Carrillo, all the while having Javier watch the scene unfold from the kitchen entrance. He stood up when you did, out of some long-forgotten courtesy that he didn’t used to care about anymore, and he just knew where it was all headed. He recognized the look in your eyes, the longing on your face. He knew what it meant, how much it must’ve consumed you, and he felt oddly enticed and captivated by it.

Just as swiftly as the night began, Carrillo’s hands rested on your waist while he kissed you. You wrapped your arms around his neck and he only brought you closer to him; his lips tasted surprisingly sweet, with just a faint tint of nicotine. Your chest was pressed against his, warm clothed skin found yours and you shivered against him. His hands gripped your waist as if saying farewell to them and he slid them up your body. You could feel Peña’s eyes fixed in your bodies, staring at the scene, and when the Colonel broke the kiss to nibble at your neck, you opened your eyes to see him next to you; half-lidded brown deep eyes, an opened bottle of wine in one hand and his lower lip in the other. Your skin was burning, and you had barely been touched.

You smiled at him when Carrillo took your jacket off, Peña smirked and took a sip of wine directly from the bottle, careless about any pleasantries.

Carrillo’s wet tongue latched softly at your pulse point and ripped a low moan out of you, you closed your eyes again when his hands gripped your ass over the fabric of your jeans.

“Colonel, please,” you muttered, sighing as you felt his large hands had fun with your flesh and grip it after hearing the way you called him.

“Words, querida” he just replied, putting some distance between your wet skin and his lips.

“More,” you bit your lip, Carrillo smirked at you and you noticed the way his eyes darkened with desire in front of you. He turned to look at Javier, who was still standing at the kitchen entrance, palming his erection over his jeans.

“Bring that,” Carrillo said, pointing at the bottle, then slid his hand from your ass to the small of your back and guided you towards the staircase.

Between your hazed eyes and the cloud of lust that had begun to invade your mind you looked around Carrillo’s space and wondered how a man like him could live in a place that big. You smiled to yourself when he put his hand on the small of your back and soon enough Peña caught up to you, you felt his ever so imposing presence behind you.

Carrillo opened the door to the bedroom and pushed you softly inside.

You didn’t even have time to take your surroundings in when you felt a pair of warm hands find your hips and a set of lips grazing at your earlobe. Your eyes closed by themselves and the sweet, strong smell of Javier’s cologne invaded your nostrils as he pulled your back flush against his chest.

“Sh–shit,” you let out, half a whisper, half a moan, when you felt Carrillo’s hands roam around your waist.

You were losing yourself between the touch of the two of them, you shivered when Carrillo cupped your breast as Javier nibbled at the skin of your neck, from behind, you tilted your head to the side to give him more room to do whatever–the–fuck he pleased with your neck.

“Mírate, chiquita,” Carrillo whispered, you felt his breath on your lips and when you re-opened your eyes you saw him inches away from your face “you’re already wrecked.”

You felt Javier chuckling against your flushed skin, and you bit your lower lip, bringing a hand to the Colonel’s nape to pull him closer and kiss him again.

One of Javier’s hands found itself under your shirt, his mouth was moving and his other hand pulled softly at your shirt over your shoulder to find more skin to lick and kiss. Carrillo found the hem of your shirt and broke the kiss to look at you, as if asking for permission and reassurance that you wanted what he wanted. Javier watched the silent exchange and smirked against the skin of your shoulder, he gave it a last brush of his mustache and a last kiss before you nodded to the Colonel and he helped you out of the garment.

Carrillo smiled to himself when he saw what you’ve been hiding under it, a black, only-lace bra that showed the shade of your nipples, you bit your lip again when you took in his disheveled figure, his notorious erection under his military green pants that made the pool between your legs grow.

“How are you this fucking beautiful?” Javier muttered behind you, his mouth leaving a trail of kisses behind your ear to your nape.

Your breath hitched when Carrillo kneeled in front of you and you felt your chest heaving with desire when his large fingers dextrely unbuttoned your jeans and his thumbs hooked on the hem. He looked at you again and you nodded for a second time. Javier looked over your shoulder at the Colonel slowly sliding your jeans off your hips then your legs and he left his hands roam around the now naked skin of your torso. Your hands landed on the back of his head, and he took the hint, attacking the skin of your neck once again.

Carrillo threw your jeans away once he helped you out of them and you moaned loudly when his lips grazed against your knee. One of your hands dropped to grab Carrillo’s head as his trail of kisses moved up, up, up until he reached the soft skin where your thigh and your hip joined. You were sure he could smell your arousal, you were sure he could feel it at that point and you didn’t care, for once you let yourself only feel and let all thought out of your mind while you felt two mouths, two men, take care of you.

There was no hesitation from Javier’s side as his fingers gently grazed up your spine, expertly unclasping your bra, taking in the image of the straps loosening on your smooth skin. He was damn near panting at the mere sight, but he had to remind himself that that was only the tip of the iceberg. The moans you were letting escape your mouth as Carrillo pressed gentle kisses on your inner thighs aided him in no way. He felt himself get harder and harder and fought off raging instincts to turn that moment into another one of his one-night stands.

Javier made sure he tasted your skin while he took the straps from both sides between his fingers and slid them off your shoulders, he felt you shivering under his hands and over Horacio’s mouth and you could feel the smirk on your skin, once the bra came off, Javier took your chin and moved your head to face him, he pressed his mouth on yours, his tongue hungry for your scent, invading your cavities and feeling your warmth rush through his body with the speed of light. Everything about your scent was intoxicating and consuming, and ever so addicting that he could barely find it in himself to stop.

But then his calloused hands found your breasts and oh–oh, shit.

That first squeeze, tantalizingly slow and powerful, took you out completely. You gasped, and you weren’t sure if it was Horacio’s warm breath in between your legs or Javier fondling your breasts, but you embraced the overwhelming effect both had on you. Javier squeezed again, and moved around to locate the sweet torture of his mouth onto your nipples, taking one in his mouth whilst his thumb moved over the other one, twisting it in between his fingers as he nibbled at your skin. His tongue left a glistening trail as he peppered kisses in between your breasts, moving up your sternum, collarbones and neck and focusing on one particular spot that seemed to drive you wild. So much so that you reached behind your back to grab a handful of his hair, pull him in closer however you could.

“Lay her down, Peña,” Carrillo cooed, and the man followed suit.

You saw the Colonel untuck his shirt and take it off while Javier kneeled on the bed and helped you lay down on it, the softness of the sheets embraced you and the coldness made you whimper softly.

It was a premiere for him to witness Javier Peña, of all people, being so submissive and attentive, but he had other matters to focus on at the moment. His mouth left your already glistening and plump lips to grab the bottle of wine, your eyes followed him as you felt Carrillo’s hands spread your legs open and kiss the inside of your legs again, Javier came back to the bed and kneeled next to you, his hand gripping the bottle and the other cupping your face, he smiled softly at you and took a sip from the bottle; you moaned when Carrillo’s hands worked to get you out of your lace panties and Javier leaned down to you, the hand that cupped your face moved to your chin and he opened your mouth with his thumb, letting the wine pour from his mouth to yours, the wine was warm and it tasted sweet, when you closed your mouth and swallowed, Javier’s thumb grazed your lips and you heard a hard pant next to you, you turned to see Carrillo’s lusted face, you gave him a soft smile and he all but threw himself to you, kissing your mound, you moaned again and Javier leaned back, bringing the chilled bottle closer to your body, letting the tip of it graze against your warm skin, between the cold sensation and Carrillo’s lips tasting you, you were about to scream, Javier looked at you, smirked and pour some of the wine all over your breasts and abdomen, immediately reaching down on your again to lick the liquid off. A bit of the wine had traveled down your abdomen to your lower belly and found its way into Carrillos mouth, the feeling of the cold wine and their tongues made you growl. You had two pairs of equally sinful and skilled lips teasing and licking deliciously well over your exposed skin, and you had half of mind to grab either one of them and get to business. You couldn’t recall the last time you felt so aroused, but it was all a masterful torture and all for a good time. If anyone else was allowed to have their downtime, why shouldn’t you?

It was somewhat futile to even attempt to please either one of the men in return; their own pleasure seemed to be revolving around yours and they were both doing such an incredible job out of it that you had a hard time trying to keep track of where did the waves of pleasure come from anymore. It was all one big tsunami of feelings, from overstimulation to lust and appreciation and love in some form.

Carrillo continued his ministrations while Javier licked the remains of the wine from your body, his tongue traveled to your sternum and he took a nipple on his mouth ever so briefly, then he stood up and quickly undressed, not bothering to be cool about it, he just threw his clothes to the floor while he looked at Horacio have the time of his life between your legs, you let out soft moans and whispers and while Javier took off his jeans he saw your hand grip Carrillo’s hair as your hips hatched against the Colonel’s face. You felt his tongue flicking your clit and he pushed a thick finger inside you, curling it around, building you up and throwing you off the cliff with the same force he had put you there. You came on his mouth with his name on yours.

As you laid on the bed, legs spread for Carrillo as he helped you ride off your orgasm, Javier kneeled back on the bed next to your face, his hand snaked its way around your neck, gently grabbing both sides and helping you take his erection in your mouth, which you were more than happy to do. You could tell he was somewhat tensed: he was doing his absolute best to control his motions and to keep it at a normal rhythm, but the more you involuntarily groaned as Carrillo began to glide his tongue across your slit once again, building up your second climax, the more Javier was slowly losing bits and pieces of himself. Within seconds, you could just tell you weren’t gonna last long, but neither would Javier as he picked up the face and jerked his hips forward more and more, thus obliging you to take more of him in. You couldn’t explain it, nor find any logic behind the action itself, but you swore you felt his release in Javier’s impatient thrusts and, sure enough, mere seconds later, he finally came, grunting as ropes of his seed dripped down your jaw.

Your moans returned when Carrillo added two fingers to his mouthy torture over your clit, and you felt like you could explode. Not long after that all-too familiar gut feeling, that almost persistent desire to burn, you came for a second time, eager to jerk your hips forward and meet as much as you could of Carrillo’s tongue, but this time, the man’s grip over your thighs was impossible to break. He held you in place ever so expertly and ate you out like you were his favorite five course meal, soaking up every ounce of juice that you provided him with.

You temporarily lost feeling in your arms as you tried to raise them to make at least Javier pay attention, but words also failed to leave your abused mouth.

“Que buena chica,” Carrillo said from somewhere down below. (What a good girl.)

Your brain didn’t register what he said properly. All you could feel was a fire so intense, so vivid, you nearly saw stars. And something told you that was only the beginning.

And you were proven right.

In the momentary lack of physical touch, you thought about the moment itself, having two of the strongest, most desirable men eager to please you–simultaneously, might you add–and the more you thought about it, the more it threw you off completely. Why? You weren’t really sure. Perhaps it was the idea in the back of your mind that you wouldn’t have thought yourself capable of that. Or them, really. The activity hadn’t been exactly on your to-do list over the past few years and yet now, you couldn’t have thought of a better way to figure out your feelings for them, and to spare time.

The freshly acquired ecstasy was not only enthralling, but efficient as well.

After your second orgasm at Horacio’s ministrations you saw him between your lusted, narrowed eyes, undress completely, Javier was next to you, trailing his fingers up and down your wet torso–wet with wine and his saliva, what a fucking thought– while the both of you saw Carrillo take the remains of his clothes off and took in his lean figure, Javier smirked when he saw him whole and thought to himself the things he would do to the man if he had the time.

Javier wrapped his arms around your waist and helped you roll over to the side to face him, licking his bottom lip in the process and made sure you watched as he did so. He had been eyeing you up and down the entire day, whether clothed or not, and every glance he threw you, ever so dark and desirable, filled with subtext and desire, made you weaker and weaker, just like Carrillo’s touches were.

You reached his face and took his lips in yours, his tongue slid inside your mouth and as he explored the insides and his hand grabbed fistfuls of your ass, you felt the bed shifting behind you, and another hand snaked from behind and found your breast, you were being pressed against and between two bodies and the wam of them was driving you insane, when Carrillo’s fingers played with your nipple you bucked your hips forward and you felt Javier’s erection graze at your lower belly. Javier moved his hand from your ass to your thigh and then he let it slide to your pussy, you bucked your hips backwards and you felt Carrillo’s erection graze at your ass.

“How are you still this wet, bonita?” Javier asked, while his fingers found themselves between your lips.

“Don’t you know the answer by now, Javi?” you muttered, feeling the way Carrillo’s mouth found your shoulders.

You glanced at him and Carrillo the same way Javier looked at you and you understood in an instant why he always preferred to be that way. It was enticing, addicting and sinful, just the way he was.

And by the looks of it, Colonel Horacio Carrillo was no saint either.

“How do you want this to go, chiquita?” Horacio asked behind you as you moved your leg up to allow Javier’s fingers to find a way inside you.

You sighed. Why was he asking you that question when you weren’t even sure something like this would happen? For a brief, brief second you wanted to hide, just grab your clothes and hide. But you found yourself sandwiched between the men that you most desired and you just couldn’t waste this opportunity for the life of you.

So you rummaged around your deepest, filthiest fantasies you’ve had when everything had just been a sinful dream, a product of your lascive thoughts giving into what you catalogued as your darkest secrets and desires and you found one you couldn’t stop think about after it had given you a stars–behind–the–eyes orgasm.

“I want both,” you muttered, feeling the way both men groaned at your sides, “both inside me, please.”

“You sure?” Javier asked, pulling out his fingers from your cunt and looking at the way they glistened, you nodded.

“Words, chiquita,” Horacio said and you turned to see him, he leaned down and stole a short, deep kiss.

“I’m a hundred percent sure,” you murmured against the Colonel’s lips.

“Let’s get you ready, then,” Javier whispered on your neck and you sighed when his fingers slid back into your slit, you closed your eyes when Horacio played your nipples around his fingers and then his hand roamed down your body, finding their way to your pussy.

“Déjame entrar,” Horacio said under his breath, Javier stopped moving his fingers inside you and you squeezed your eyes tighter when Carrillo slid two more fingers inside your cunt.

“Fu–fuck, fuck,” you gasped, Javier let open mouthed kisses around your face and the skin of your neck within reach while your walls tightened around their thick fingers.

“You okay?” Javier asked and you nodded a few times before your body relaxed and got used to the intrusion.

“Mo–move,” you pleaded, feeling Horacio’s mouth nibbling at your shoulder and your neck.

Javier and Horacio moved their fingers at the same time inside you, looking at each other as if marking a dancing pace. You didn’t know what to do with yourself as they moved in and out and curled their fingers in all directions inside you, making you moan and whimper and open up more for them as they somehow found an identical pace to torture you with.

“Eso, eso nena, lo estás haciendo muy bien,” Carrillo praised behind you, feeling the way your walls were giving into the attention and dilating around their fingers (That’s it baby, you’re doing great)

“Más,” you pleaded, rolling your hips against their hands “Más, más,”

They grinned at each other, Javier’s eyes landed on your face and took in the way your features quirked in pure pleasure. Their fingers moving at the same time, pacing in and out faster. Javier’s mouth landed on your shoulder and Carrillo only took in the lewd noise his and Javier’s fingers were making as they pulled in and out at a murdering pace.

“Oh, sh–shit,” you bit your lip and tried to hide your face inside the crook of Javier’s neck but Horacio pulled you away with his other hand.

“We wanna hear you, querida.” he whispered behind your ear, you shivered again at the feeling of his warm breath and then it became too much, their fingers were covered in your arousal as you spread your legs impossibly wider as your throat began growling and your hands landed on both of them, digging your nails on their flesh. Javier hissed against your shoulder and Carrillo bit the skin of your mouth, both of them throwing you together from the cliff and your body spasmed between them.

“Oh my god, oh shit, fuck!” you screamed between their bodies and they slowed their pace to help you ride down your climax “please, please, fuck me, please,” you let out, almost desperately, eager to feel the same with them inside you. They slid their fingers out of you and you shivered again.

Your body was already a mess, after three powerful orgasms you were panting for air, the only thing you wanted was them inside you, you wanted to feel every ridge and every vein of them, you wanted; you needed to cum around them both.

“What is taking you so long?” you opened your eyes, quite frustrated at the lack of attention to your bodies, but the sight that you took in was otherworldly.

Carrillo had his fingers, his covered–in–your–arousal fingers inside Javier’s mouth.

“Fuck,” you let out, dropping your head on the mattress, looking at the way Javier grabbed Horacio’s wrist to keep his hand on his mouth and lick them clean of you while Horacio’s deep gaze took Javier in with a smirk adorning his face.

Horacio pulled his fingers out with a soft pop and they both looked at you, panting and brushing a nipple with your fingers.

“Next time you’ll have to put on a show for me,” you teased.

“You’re ready?” Javier asked, leaning down to kiss your temple, you looked at Carrillo and smiled at him as he licked his fingers.

“Very,” you replied, softly, your voice was already hoarse because of the moaning and screaming they had pulled out of you, they got comfortable on each of your side and you took a deep breath when Horacio lifted your leg and hooked it on his hip.

Javier was the first one to tease your entrance with the dripping head of his cock, when you felt it sliding up and down your slit you gasped and as he pushed himself inside you you grabbed his arm and licked any part of his skin available for you.

“Oh my god,” you cried out softly.

Javier was having a hard time staying still when your walls were warm and wet around him, his hands roamed around your body as Carrillo lined himself with you and him as well and then he pushed.

“Holy fucking shit,” you had close your eyes at the feeling of Horacio making his way inside of you, you breathed and panted and tried so hard to relaxe but they were thicker than their fingers and your pussy was clenching already around them. Javier took your hand and you squeezed his as both of them bottomed up inside you.

Horacio put his hands over the entanglement of yours and Javi’s and the three of you gasped and panted until your body stopped squirming between them and your walls stopped closing themselves at the feeling of two thick cocks making their way inside.

Javier had to close his eyes as well when he felt how your cunt clenched him tight closer to Horacio and he felt himself throb inside you, when he opened his eyes he saw you, open mouthed gasps leaving your body as it got used to being that full, and then his eyes traveled to Horacio, that buried himself in the crook of your neck, he supposed he was feeling the same way as him, trapped in a oh–so–tight hole with him.

“Move, move, move,” you all but begged, the initial sting of being filled like that disappearing and being replaced with the darkest, deepest, hottest desire you had ever felt, “fu–fucking move already!”

Horacio smirked against the skin of your neck at your demand and moved slightly to look at Javier, who nodded once and then, murdering pleasure; Javier pulled out and as he was thrusting slowly back in, Horacio pulled out and moved in as Javier moved out and you gasped and the air in your lungs left you for the time being as your cunt was filled with the two men you wanted the most.

It was pleasure delivered in a delicious swing of two hips rocking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth into you, making you impossibly wetter, incredibly hornier, and way too lost in the haze to even care about anything else.

The way that they were fucking you was shameless, the noises were lewd and your moans invaded the room as soon as they picked up the pace and kept driving into you at the same pace but in different directions.

Four hands caressed your body, two sets of lips nibbled at your skin, two tongues tasted the salty sheet of sweat that had covered your body, two thick cocks used your body at their will, making you want to explode; it was an eager combination of feelings and sensations pulled out of the most sensual, lechery, degenerated dreams you could ever had.

“Harder, please, pleasepleaseplease,” you panted out, gripping any skin and limb your hands could find. Your hips started rolling and rolling and rolling with them as they thrusted and pounded inside you.

“Mierda,” Horacio gasped behind you, biting at your skin, making you whimper.

“You’re so fucking tight, so fu–fucking good, baby,” Javier cried out as your pussy clenched around them and you absentmindedly rolled your hips harder.

It was an entanglement of limbs and wet skin, mouths clashing against skin, hands gripping and grabbing available flesh, a swing of bodies and a symphony of licks, kisses, hums, gasps, pants, begs and praises.

“Shit, sh–shit,” you panted harder and clawed at Javier’s arm when you felt the well-familiar tug on your belly of an incoming orgasm, you hummed and moaned and you felt lips in your ear, licking and nibbling at your earlobe, “I’m so close, más,”

Javier gritted his teeth when you demanded more and angled his hips to pound inside harder, Horacio followed his lead, dropping his hand on Javier’s shoulder for leverage. Carrillo’s touch burned in Javier’s skin and he felt his body stiffen with the feeling of his second release.

“Por dios, querida, me estás matando.” Horacio cried out behind you, feeling as well his body falling from the cliff. (My god, you’re killing me)

Javier’s free hand slid through your wet, glistening skin and his finger circled your clit slowly, you screamed his name, your legs buckled and your entire body squirmed with the sea of sensations your body was feeling and flooding with.

“Cum inside me, please, please,” you panted again, feeling the way your legs started to shake as both of their thrust became erratic and Javier’s finger kept circling around your bundle of nerves you exploded around them, gushing out and soaking them as your orgasm made you scream both their names.

“Mierda, querida, mírate,” Horacio grunted before he gave into the lustfulness of it all and came inside you and around Javier.

Once Javi felt the warmness of Carrillo’s release and the way you soaked both of them and his hand, he locked his hips with yours and spilled himself inside as well, gasping out your name.

“Ohmyfuckinggod,” you let out as a sigh, feeling your legs tremble with the strength of your climax.

The three of you stayed like that, joined, for a while. As your bodies relaxed you finally opened your eyes and saw the way Horacio’s hand was resting on Javier’s shoulder, wrapping you as well between them. Both of them breathing heavily, eyes closed, recovering from whatever the hell you had done was called. You sighed and smiled to yourself. If it weren’t for the four orgasms you had and the way your cunt was throbbing after the abuse and dripping with their seed, you wouldn’t believe it was real at all.

“How was that, cariño?” Javier asked, grazing a hand up and down your arm.

“That was–magnificent,” you gushed, not sure how else to describe that positively euphoric experience, “I think–you two have worn me out.”

Horacio chuckled and moved your head to press a kiss to your forehead, and shifted to allow all three of you to lie somewhat comfortably under the covers. You whined when they pulled out of you, solely because at the loss of them, you felt empty.

“Rest now, querida, we’ll be here in the morning,” he whispered into your hair, and that was all the permission you needed.

“We should–” you brought a hand to your mouth to cover a massive yawn, “–do this again sometime.”

After that, it didn’t take long before you had succumbed to the tempting pull of sleep. Horacio sighed and glanced over your shoulder at Javier, who looked rather worn out himself. Tenderly, Horacio reached over and brushed aside a small strand of hair that had fallen in Javi’s face.

“So, same time next week, then?” Horacio asked, giving Javier a lazy smirk, which was returned in kind.

“Yeah,” Javier mumbled, turning over to drape his arm around your way and bury his face in your neck.

“Absolutely.”

let me know if you wanna be removed :)

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[triptuckers]

Two Homes (part 1/7) - Nikolai Lantsov

Request: nope! Pairing:  Nikolai Lantsov x reader  Summary:  you live in Ketterdam, and your life is alright. things get excited however, when you receive royal mail Warnings: none Word count:  2K A/N: first time doing a (mini) series and I am ✨ nervous ✨ but this idea has been sitting in my drafts for too long and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m planning on writing seven parts :) enjoy reading!  PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART TAG LIST: @godsofwriting @im-constantly-fangirling add yourself to my tag lists here 

You would always be torn between leaving Ketterdam, and staying in the city. You have a good life, it’s comfortable. Given that your father is one of the wealthiest merchants of the city, you could basically get anything you wanted. You had more money than you could possibly spend in one lifetime.

But still, you weren’t happy. Your father may have a lot of kruge, he certainly didn’t have a heart of gold. All your life you’ve known him as a greedy, rude and unfair man. You’d give up all of your kruge in a blink of an eye if you could trade it for a different life. 

Your friends didn’t understand. They told you to be grateful. That many would kill to live in a mansion like you do, and to have the amounts of money your family has. But you had learned wealth doesn’t always mean happiness.

For years, you watched as your father treated people like garbage, simply because they didn’t have enough money in his eyes. He’d blackmail people, or worse. You couldn’t stand it.

Which is why you decided to join the Dregs a couple of years ago. In secret, of course. Your father doesn’t know. You took every precaution necessary to prevent him from finding out. You’d rather not find out all the things he’d be capable of. 

With the help of the Crows, you’d been stealing small bits of your father’s fortune. You either give it to the Dregs or transfer it to your own personal bank account, one your father didn’t have access to. 

To keep your identity a secret, only a few Dregs know your true identity. You use a fake name and whenever you’re at the Crow Club or the Slat, you wear your hood pulled down as low as possible, hiding your face from curious eyes. All precautions because you know all too well what gang members would do with a rich merchant’s daughter. 

You like hanging out at the Crow Club. Mostly because the Crows don’t treat you like a merchant’s daughter. They treat you like, well, Y/N. To them, you’re one of their own. And you’re glad they’re your friends. 

The Crow Club is also a place where you can relax. At home, you’re always on your toes, keeping a close eye on your father. He had the annoying habit of marching into your room unannounced. When you told him you wanted a lock on your door, he merely laughed it away. 

So, yes, you’d prefer the Crow Club full of thieves, gamblers and other criminals to the mansion you live in.

Of course, your father doesn’t know you spend most of your time at the Club. You take longer walks, you make sure you’re not followed, and conceal your face whenever you make your way to the Barrel. 

Once inside the Club, you walk to your usual table, and there’d always be someone around to join you.

Right now, you’re sitting at the table with Nina and Jesper. Enjoying a drink and a game of cards. You’re happy to be amongst your friends, laughing at their jokes and beating them at cards.

You look up when you see a familiar redhead approach your table.

‘Hi Wylan!’ you say as you enthusiastically wave at him. Wylan smiles at you as he sits down next to Jesper. Jesper raises his hand at the bartender to order another round of drinks as Wylan shrugs off his coat.

‘I’ve got something for you.’ says Wylan, while looking at you.

You raise your eyebrows in question as you finish your drink. ‘Watch out, Jesper, I might steal your boyfriend.’ you chuckle.

‘Oh, no, you won’t.’ says Jesper, reaching out and pulling Wylan's chair closer to his own, making Wylan blush.

‘He’s going to ask me out on a date, I can see it on his face.’ you say, failing to keep a straight face. 

‘What? No!’ says Wylan, looking from you to Jesper. ‘No, I’m not asking you out on a date, I’ve got a letter for you.’ 

You frown. ‘You’ve got a letter for me?’ you say. ‘Why wasn’t it just delivered to my house?’

‘I don’t know.’ says Wylan. ‘Someone stopped me in the street and told met to give it to you. They said it was urgent.’

‘How did they know you knew where to find me?’ you ask him as you take your new drink the bartender passes you.

Wylan shrugs. ‘I don’t know. She had a pretty heavy Ravkan accent, though. I tried to read the address to confirm it was yours, but I couldn't.’ he says. You notice a slight blush on his cheeks, but ignore it.

‘Is the letter from Ravka as well?’ you say.

‘I think so.’ says Wylan, finally pulling the letter out of his coat pocket. ‘I mean, it’s got a pretty distinctive seal on the back of it.’ 

Before you can ask him anything else, Jesper snatches the letter out of Wylan’s hand, looking at it. 

‘Why would a Ravkan send you a letter?’ he chuckles, flipping the envelope around in his hands. When his eyes fall on the seal, they widen. ‘Correction.’ says Jesper, while looking at you. ‘Why would a Lantsov send you a letter?’

Now your eyes widen as well. ‘What?’ you say. ‘That has to be some kind of joke.’

You lean over the table and take the envelope out of Jesper’s hands. You take another sip of your drink as you look at the seal on the back of it. Indeed, the Lantsov double eagle is on it. 

‘Nina.’ you say, turning to her next to you and handing her the envelope so she can look at it as well. ‘Do you have any idea as to why your king would send me a letter?’ 

Nina looks at the seal as well, running a finger over it. ‘I don’t know.’ she says. ‘But this looks like a legitimate seal, though. It’s on the ones I get as well. I don’t get a lot of them, but I do recognise that seal. This isn’t a fake.’

She hands it back to you and your flip it over in your hand. When you look up, you see all three of your friends looking at you. 

‘Why would he send me a letter, though?’ you wonder out loud. ‘And how does he even know I exist? Or where to find me?’

‘Well, after all, you are a merchant’s daughter.’ says Jesper.

‘Shh!’ you quickly say. ‘We’re still in the Crow Club, Jes!’

Jesper quickly apologises, looking around to see if anyone heard him. But the people around you are too caught up in their own drinks and games to have heard anything you were saying. 

‘But why would the king of Ravka keep track of Kerch merchants? He only approaches the merchant council for loans. And if he needs to contact them, he sends letters directly to the members of the council.’ you say. 

‘Well, you won’t know until you open it.’ says Nina. ‘Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? He doesn’t even know you.’

‘You’ve got a point.’ you say. ‘And I can’t deny I'm curious.’

Slowly, you open the envelope, pulling out a short letter. You’re well aware of all of their eyes on you as you read the message.

“Dear miss Y/F/N Y/L/N,

My name is Nikolai Lantsov (as you probably would have guessed upon seeing the wax seal on the envelope), I’ll spare the ink and not name all of my titles. Though my triumvirate would like me to. 

I am writing you to tell you I am hosting a ball, one week from now, at the Grand Palace in Os Alta, Ravka. You are hereby invited to attend said ball, at the end of which I will choose a bride.

I await your response, and I promise there will be good wine.

Yours sincerely,

King Nikolai Lantsov, of Ravka”

You read the letter over and over again, trying to get the words to sink in. Nikolai Lantsov himself wrote you an invitation. To a ball at the Grand Palace. And he’d choose a bride. Someone to be his queen.

You snort and throw the letter on the table.

‘Well, that was interesting to read.’ you say.

Jesper moves to pick up the letter, but Nina is faster. Wylan and Jesper lean in closer, and she softly reads the letter out loud. You see looks of surprise and confusion on their faces as Nina reads the letter.

When she’s done, they all look at you in confusion. You chuckle and take the letter from Nina’s hands, folding it and tucking it in your pocket. 

‘Do you think I could sell this to the highest bidder?’ you say. ‘It’s got an authentic Lantsov signature on it.’

‘Why on earth would you do that?’ says Jesper.

You look at him. ‘You don’t seriously think I’ll go?’ you say.

‘Duh!’ says Jesper. ‘Why not? Y/N, this is a king. And he’s inviting you to a ball. You could become queen!’

‘I have no intention of becoming queen.’ you say, finishing your drink. ‘Besides, I don’t want to leave Ketterdam.’

‘I bet Os Alta is a whole lot nicer than Ketterdam, though.’ says Wylan.

‘And have a servant do every little thing for me? Eat the finest food all day every month? Go to balls and war meetings? No thank you.’ you say.

‘Why do you talk about it as if it’s a bad thing?’ says Wylan.

‘Because I told you, I have no intention of going to a ball and becoming queen. If you’re asking me, I think writing that letter was a waste of ink and paper.’ you tell them. ‘Besides, if he’s smart, he’s going to marry a Fjerdan or Shu princess to establish an alliance. Even if I wanted to go, there’s no way he’d pick an ordinary Kerch merchant’s daughter to be his queen.’

‘A word of advice?’ says Nina. 

You look at her and motion for her to keep on talking. 

‘I’ve met Nikolai several times. He’s a good man. Would it really be that bad to even attend? You’re not agreeing to marrying him, you’re just going to a ball. Why not give him a chance?’ she says.

‘Because I think balls are a waste of time. And money. And simply because I don’t want to play dress up and act like a perfect daughter.’ you say, getting up and putting on your coat.

‘At least think about it?’ says Nina.

‘For your sake, I will.’ you say. ‘I’ll even pretend like I haven’t made my decision yet.’

‘It’ll be great for your reputation!’ says Jesper as you move through the crowd toward the door.

‘I’m not going to Os Alta!’ you yell at him over your shoulder. When you’re at the door, you wave goodbye at them and head outside. It’s a particular cold night, and you wrap your coat tighter around you and pull your hood further down.

Somehow the invitation feels like lead as it sits in your pocket. So Nikolai Lantsov himself invited you to the Grand Palace. Though you’re flattered, you’ve already made up your mind. 

You’re not going to Os Alta. After all, what could be waiting for you there that you couldn’t find in Ketterdam? You’ve got very good friends here, plenty of kruge, and you live in a mansion. 

Surely Os Alta couldn’t offer you more than that?

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Marit

[scribbling-stiks]

OS - Oops, New Family

"*Polish*"

Poland scowls and storms out of the meeting. The Nations meeting was called in New York, but Poland could almost feel America's apprehension in the air. Why he was so nervous, Poland didn't care to find out.

'Those countries are so frustrating.'

He wanders through the halls of the building blindly, trying to calm himself down before he started screaming. After a few minutes of quickly trekking through the hallways, he looks around only to realize he's lost in a part of the building he'd never seen before.

He huffs in frustration.

'Now where am I?'

He contemplates asking for help and ultimately decides that no, he was not going to ask anyone for directions. He could find his way back himself.

After an hour of wandering deeper into the twisting hallways, he scowls and kicks the wall.

'Why does this building have to be so large anyway?!'

He growls and sits down against the wall, resolving to wait until someone came to find him. He knew the agents who accompanied him here would probably find him. He sits there for a few minutes until he hears a set of footsteps approaching him. He looks up and sees a flag he doesn't recognize. It looks like the Chilian flag, but the blue stripe and the star are longer. He jumps back a little, startled.

"Howdy," The figure says with a wide grin, his eyes shining the telltale yellow of a personification, "you seem a little lost."

Poland scowls. The figure gives a smaller smile before moving to sit on the other side of the hallway.

"Are you one of the countries?" the figure asks.

"You say that as if you're not."

"Well, between you and me. I'm not. At least, not anymore."

Poland looks up more this time and sees the figure offering a welcoming smile. He stares in confusion.

"Are you some kind of state?"

"Hmm... You might have to come with me to find out. I know Dad says not to talk to the countries, but you aren't one of the ones he warns about, so I think you're fine."

Poland stands, his anger completely gone, and is replaced by curiosity.

"Besides," the figure continues, "I didn't even know countries could come back here. The name's Texas by the way."

"Poland."

"Nice to meet ya!" Texas exclaims, offering a hand.

When Poland doesn't immediately take it, Texas drops his hand. Poland feels surprised and a little relieved when he didn't have to follow through with getting closer to the mysterious figure.

"Don't worry about it," Texas says, waving off the attempt, "I know some of y'all don't like contact. Nothing to worry about."

Poland feels himself relax a little, but he scolds himself for it.

Poland trails after Texas, but Texas doesn't seem bothered in the slightest at the lack of conversation. Texas walks through the building as if he had been here hundreds of times before. Eventually, they reach a meeting room with yelling and crashing inside. It doesn't sound violent, but it is loud.

"Are you okay with loud noises?" Texas asks, hand on the doorknob.

Poland nods. Texas opens the door and Poland is hit with a wall of sound. Laughter and shouts of insults ring out in the air.

"Howdy, y'all!" Texas yells.

"Hi, Tex!"

"Hey, Tazzy!"

"Wait," another figure says, a yellow diamond on a faded green background, "who is that? Dad said no guests."

"Well, Poland here isn't one of the countries Dad told us to worry about."

The yellow diamond mutters with an unsure look before they shrug. The people start crowding around him and Poland takes a deep breath, getting ready to wait for them back off when there is a shout.

"HEY! Back up!" one of the taller people shouts, "You're making them uncomfortable!"

The figures back up and give Poland more than enough breathing room with apologies floating in the air.

"Hi!" The tallest of the group says, "I'm California, but you can call me Cali. We're the United States."

"America's states?" Poland asks.

"Yes," the oldest of the group replies, a child of about 7 or 8 in her arms, "America doesn't say much about us to the countries."

Poland nods in agreement and is herded into one of the chairs around the table. He sits back, confused, but seeing them try their best not to make him feel trapped felt refreshing. They make sure not to block the door and they try to give him space, though the younger ones do need some correcting. Poland decides to stay, if only for a few minutes. The polite company is appreciated.

Then, someone sits across from him. He looks up at the person popping cookies into their mouth. The figure swallows before speaking.

"Hi. I'm Kentucky. Want one?"

Poland gives a nervous nod and Kentucky slides a few of the cookies across the table.

He begins munching on them and smiles.

'Not a bad group.'

Then someone else walks up.

"The name's New York," The figure says with a curt wave before leaning over the table.

"*Do not tell the other countries about us,*" New York says in Polish, causing Poland's head to whip up, "*America has been trying to keep us away from the countries. Texas wasn't supposed to bring you here, but now that you know, there isn't much we can do now unless you want to try the memory wiping spell.*"

"*I can keep a secret.*"

New York nods, and Poland sees respect in his eye.

"Getting past Tex is a test of character. You don't got to go off on him," Kentucky says.

"I was just making sure."

Kentucky shrugs and offers another cookie, which Poland accepts.

Then a little kid runs up to him. He looks over at the star spelled face of the youngest in the group.

"Hi! I'm Alaska. Do you wanna play games with us?" the child says, bouncing in excitement.

Poland couldn't find it in him to refuse. He ignores the calls on his phone and shouts in victory as he laps Arizona and Idaho.

"You're cheating!" Minnesota shouts.

Poland cackles.

Then the door starts opening and Poland looks up to see America walking in.

"Hi kids. How's it going..." America trails off, making eye contact with Poland.

Poland immediately notices how pale America got and feels almost bad for him. Poland stands up, handing the controller to Utah, who takes it with a cheer. But before he can start, South Carolina steps up beside him.

"Dad! Texas found him in the hallway. Can we keep him? Please?" South Carolina says.

"I-uh..."

"No one will know that they are here," Poland says quietly.

America's eyes lock on Poland and stay there for a few moments. America sighs.

"Fine, but only if he wants to stay," America relents.

Poland smiles and the states cheer wildly. America smiles and shakes his head.

"They're looking for you," America says.

"F*** them," Poland says, "I am not going back in there."

America shrugs.

"Fair enough."

Poland takes a seat at the table and Alabama hands him a plate with a piece of pie on it. He shovels forkfuls into his mouth while cheering Texas on.

'America never had anything to do with letting them tear me apart,' Poland ponders.

America sits down beside him and Poland nods in acknowledgment.

"You seem to be having fun," America says with a gentle smile.

Poland nods enthusiastically. America sighs before fixing a stern gaze onto Poland. Poland drops his fork and stares back.

"Don't hurt any of them and don't tell anyone," America says, "and maybe you can start coming around for holidays and hanging out with the kids when we're stationed here for meetings."

Poland's eyes light up.

"Really?"

"Yes. They need someone else to help keep them on track anyway and you seem to be having fun," America says with a wink.

This makes Poland a lot happier than he had expected. He grins. America smiles widely back. Poland's phone begins ringing near constantly and Poland finally answers, walking out into the hallway to do so.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?"

"I will meet you at the entrance."

"We will see you there, sir."

Poland hangs up and sighs. He walks back into the room and taps America's shoulder. America turns around and flashes him a smile.

"Could you show me back to the main entrance?"

"Of course. Follow me," America says, "Behave yourselves!" he shouts over his shoulder.

When the agents ask where he had been and why America is with him, he simply tells them he had gotten lost after he stormed off and America found him and led him back.

"Bye Poland!" America calls, waving wildly.

Poland laughs quietly and waves back. The other countries who are standing around the lobby give him strange looks for the interaction, but Poland waves them off. He masks his grin and walks out quietly with the agents, who escort him to the airport.

'That was the best meeting I have attended,' Poland thinks, hiding the accompanying smile with his hand, 'I may have to take up America on his offer.'

~

Table of Contents

[wedgestratos]

Sailfish OS: One Day

Today’s gonna be a weird and long post, so let’s start slow and give you the choice.

We’ve had, for years, seen the constant back and forth between Google and Apple on their respective phone operating systems. Android, which has dominated the market on basically any device you can pick up here in the states, and iOS, which exclusively powers iPhones, iPods and iPads. Despite the two duking it out, Android does hold the highest market share. As of Q2 2018, Statista claims a whopping 82% market share for Android, and no other competitors really exist.

But, for years, I’ve been enamored by an OS that has been seemingly out of my reach, and has had a lot of drawbacks that prevented me from ever considering using it for more than an hour. An OS that’s been going strong for over 5 years, and might soon see a new breath of fresh air due to recent allegations to Huawei. So, after the break, let me tell you my tale of Sailfish OS.

Now one thing I want to briefly mention is the history of this, but don’t take it as gospel. I’m not an expert on this stuff, but what I’ve gathered is Sailfish OS is built on a foundation of MeeGo and Mer. MeeGo has prospered on its own to Tizen, an alternative OS used widely by Samsung on their watches and fridges (for some reason), while Mer was a fork of MeeGo driven by the community, and became the framework for ex-Nokia employees to start a new project, with the funding of Nokia through their Bridge program. Those ex-Nokia employees would found Jolla, and Sailfish OS would be their creation.

I first heard of Sailfish in 2013, as I was dipping my toes into the world of smartphones at that point. It looked incredible, with vivid, vibrant colors, a gesture-driven UI, a uniform design language, and a promise of privacy and openness that we definitely don’t see from companies today. And at the time, I was especially curious of their hardware.

Credit By Michael Coté - Flickr: Charles' Jolla phone, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31979039

The Jolla phone saw its first pre-orders in April of 2013, and was officially available for purchase by November. It had decent specs for the time. Snapdragon 400, a modest 540x960 resolution (keep in mind, the flagship Samsung Galaxy SIII had a mere 720p resolution), 1GB of RAM, a 2100mAh battery, and most interesting to me, the “Other Half” which powered the system’s Ambiences. You slap a new Other Half on it, and the color changed to match in the OS. Cool in concept.

The later Jolla tablet would be promoted with an Indiegogo campaign, but unfortunately, costs and availability of materials, and the development of Sailfish OS 2.0 led to the tablet ultimately being cancelled, with a handful of units out in the wild.

Since then, Jolla’s gotten back on stable footing. The OS is open for licensing with OEMs, and Jolla’s been able to get official support from places like Russia, and companies like... Sony.

I have the Xperia XA2, released in March 2018 for $300 in the US. I snatched it up on eBay for a mere $170, and I’ve enjoyed its clean design, near-stock OS, and the solid in-house Sony apps like the Gallery and Music apps worked wonders. But then I discovered Jolla was working on Sailfish X for the XA2.

As a way to support the OS, and a way to fund the continued development of an Android compatibility layer for those who need Android apps, Jolla has Sailfish X, a version of their OS that features predictive text input with the keyboard, software updates and customer support, and of course, the Alien Dalvik, which lets you run Android apps on the OS natively. This was important, since I knew I needed apps like Discord, Twitter, Google Maps, and I could see the available open-sourced apps of things like Keepass weren’t gonna cut it.

The process was a bit difficult, and I stayed up until 4am on Saturday, trying to get the phone backed up, flashed, and ready to go with what I needed. First, I had to unlock the bootloader, which Sony and Jolla made it pretty easy. Then I had to buy the OS for the meager $35 USD (which I had done before even being certain my phone would do it, don’t make my mistake), download their software package and just... do it. After an hour, I had the phone running Sailfish, and man, it was a delight from the beginning. Swiping, tapping, sliding, the OS felt smooth, it had this flow about it.

After I got the accounts logged in, I proceeded to grab a few apps... before realizing all too soon that I’d need Google Play services. This is where I’m probably gonna get a lot of flack. For all the effort I put in, I was about to install apps that were at least partially at fault for the slowness of my XA2 on Android, and defeating the point of installing Sailfish.

Let me be forward in saying I don’t care that much about privacy. Do I like Google being involved in every facet of my life? Absolutely not, but they are sadly a necessary evil. And it’s not like you, the reader, would be any different. Tumblr, after all, is owned by Verizon, who has a history of screwing customers in plenty of situations, including firefighters who need constant access to emergency services for contact. And too many things want or need Google Play for me to avoid it. Discord, Telegram, Authy, Youtube, I use all this stuff, and without GP, it gets unhappy. I could remedy some of those by using Amazon or just going open-source with F-Droid, but it won’t fix the issue. And even now, microG, an open-source implementation of Google Play services, isn’t perfect, and would likely cause more headaches than I could handle at 4am on a Saturday.

Fortunately, some good Samaritans on Jolla’s Together forums created a simple Bash script I could run by just SSHing into my phone... Wow, that was a sentence. A fitting one though. After that, and after some headaches with the Google Setup wizard (here’s a tip: use Vision settings to get to your Android settings, and disable permissions on “Android Setup” when you’ve gotten your account logged in), I was finally using my phone, and it runs quite well. Android apps don’t consistently work correctly. Often, I have to close apps like the settings or Keepass because the framework stops updating the frontend, or even fully stop and start Android support, but it works well for just about everything I’m using on it now!

I really like the UI and design, and since the Other Half concept isn’t there for the XA2, ambiences are just a menu away from changing the look and feel of the OS in this pleasing way.

The system flows thanks to its gesture-driven controls. Swiping up from the bezel will bring you your app tray, swiping from the top bezel gives you quick settings. When you’re on the home screen, swiping left or right gives you a sort of agenda view where notifications, weather, and updates from your Twitter, Facebook, XMPP, VK and other accounts stack up. When you’re inside an app, swiping from the left or right bezel should bring you back home. Of all the interface controls on this device, that one is the most inconsistent one, a pain point given the nature of Android’s design language encourages these slide-out menus that you can’t consistently swipe open due to that gesture. The only setting I’ve found on that is to change the left-side bezel swipe to open the agenda instead of going home. I’d personally prefer hot zones on the bezels, so if I wanted to go home, swipe in from the lower half of the screen, but if I want the Android menus, slide from the top half.

Other interesting design cues come from the glowing parts of the UI, where extended menu options usually hide, or places you can slide out to are available.

Sliding down if the top is glowing usually opens this pulley menu, where each option can be selected by just pulling a bit and letting go. It’s an odd one, and due to the inconsistencies of apps and options, the pulley menu isn’t as instantly intuitive as I would hope. If there’s a glowing dot on a page though, you can simply slide to return to a menu from previously, or access another menu if the dot’s on the right side. Again, this is a bit inconsistent, as the unofficial Twitter app, Pingviini, showcases. You can actually just swipe left and right at will to access your notifications, conversations, search and trendings, and timeline. That bottom menu you’re seeing there is hidden so often, it’s basically pointless to have it there. This does make the whole system feel more cohesive, Pingviini looks like it belongs on this phone, but it does hurt usability.

Thus far, I’m still testing and learning about this OS. I had to google screenshotting, which is simply holding the volume rocker together. Doesn’t feel as reliable as the Android alternative of Volume Down and Power / Home, but I’ll take it. I don’t plan on gaming with this. Games are just not what I buy a phone for. It’s nice to have it there, but I’d prefer to just play my 3DS if I’m out and about.

I can’t wait to do more with Sailfish. It feels really nice to use, and I’m honestly draining my phone’s battery just from the amusement of swiping and sliding menus around and admiring the design of this. The last OS I really enjoyed using was Blackberry 10, and this feels like a sort of spiritual successor, with the included agenda feed and the persistent cards for apps you’re using.

[loyalflutist]

Vermillion Visitors (FF Type-0 x FE3H)

Rating: General Audience Category: F/F (for slight Edeleth) Crossover: Final Fantasy Type-0 x Fire Emblem: Three Houses Words: 4,857 Summary: It appears that a group of visitors not only came to the monastery but managed to incorporate themselves as a new house in it. The Black Eagles begin their discussion about the newcomers... but the same could be said about the newcomers themselves.

A/N: Forgot to also upload this. (Whoops x2) I might just make a long ramble about why Fire Emblem Three Houses remind me SO MUCH about Final Fantasy Type-0... you know, with the entire war going on, the themes they’ve conveyed, and the fact that everything is so morally gray... amongst many of the shared spoilers’ concepts... but that might be for another day. Instead, I had written a fun little crossover OS of these two. Hoping to write more of them soon! Also, Edeleth snuck in and made themselves at home in the fiction. 

---

“Have you heard? There are these new students that just transferred into the monastery.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard.”

“I’m surprised Lady Rhea approved of it. Do we even have another classroom to spare?”

“We don’t.”

“So… where are they taught?”

“I heard their teacher teaches them right outside of our lecture hall.”

“Out in the field? I’m surprised they could even learn…”

“I’m sure they did. Their teacher is no ordinary one. He’s a commander!”

“A commander? Sounds like someone from Brigid.”

“He is not coming from Brigid.”

Three houses gossiped and whispered amongst themselves, but none ever did so loudly than the Black Eagles. (Perhaps it is due to Dorothea, Ferdinand, Linhardt, and Hubert’s intrigue!) Whenever they spotted the vermillion cape and unique school uniform different from theirs, their eyes were glued to the person(s) of interest. They were like pigeons awaiting for their snack! Now, over lunch, almost all members excitedly chattered and debated about the foreign visitors.

“I have to agree with Petra on that one,” Caspar stabbed a fork into his steak. “He doesn’t have a tan skin like her.”

“Are you serious, Caspar?” With a deadpan expression, Linhardt stared from across the table. “Just because someone is not tan does not automatically rule them out.”

Their conversation moved onto the next phase. The aura that surrounded the visitors felt as if they possess far more experience than they would have with others of the same age group. Whenever they returned from battle, not one of them possess injuries, save it for minor afflictions. Their missions always went exceptionally well. Such an outcome was starting to become predictable, even when less than five members are sent out to the frontline. The fact that none of them required battalions made their achievements far more superior than any has seen.

“Most impressive… I hope to learn from them,” Ferdinand crossed his arms; an amused smile was drawn to life. “The fact that they’re able to return from battle without a scratch or scar shows me that they are no amateur.”

Dorothea, who was seated two spots away, clicked her tongue.

“Of course, they aren’t, Ferdie. Everyone could see it from a mile away. Perhaps you should reevaluate yourself if you had to think about their capabilities.”

“You’ve always had a sharp tongue with me, don’t you?”

“Oh, how perceptive. Would you like some money for your wounds?”

“Okay, okay, cut it out, both of you,” Caspar flailed his arm out for their attention. “Sheesh, can’t you both fight when we’re NOT eating? We’re here to talk about them.”

Bernadetta poked and probed at her beans with a fork as the blue-haired furiously reeled them back into the topic. Beads of sweat flew out of her head as she murmured,

“A-Aren’t… aren’t they a little… too perfect?”

“What do you mean?” Linhardt, who sat next to her, turned. “Perfection is an impossible feat to achieve.”

“I-I know. It’s just… the way they carry themselves… It’s like they’re not even human.”

Perfection. They were literally the manifestation of perfection. Students from the three houses had to admit that they were at a higher plane based on raw strength. Even Byleth, Catherine, and Shamir confessed that they would have trouble fighting their commander if they were to spar one-on-one!

“They are most kindest— kind people I have met though,” Petra shook her head. “I cannot see them as perfect. They are like us.”

“Hoh… Is that so…” the songstress hummed. “You might be right. They may be strong, but they’re still students.”

“That is correct.”

“Some of them are so cute too~”

“Dorothea strikes again…” the white magus blinked. “Still, I must say, they are a pleasant company.”

Ironically, at the same time, their naïve personality contrast with their veteran status. Some of them would get into senseless fights on academic grounds, and some would host picnic parties for other students outside of their group. Silly arguments would spout out of nowhere. Smiles and laughter beamed from their directions. Game of chase, singing, and naptimes were some of the frequent side activities. After all, they are still children. They deserve to live a little!

Dorothea leaned forward, elbows on the table and chin resting upon the palms of her hands. She eyed Petra as the foreigner brought the filled spoon to her mouth.

“Speaking of the commander, if he isn’t from Brigid… then what is their house name? They must have come from somewhere!”

Linhardt lowered his cup of water.

“They’re from Rubrum. I heard their house is called… Class Zero.”

Ace, the card wielder.

Deuce, the flutist.

Trey, the talkative bow user.

Cater, the gunner.

Cinque, the smasher.

Sice, the silver reaper.

Seven, the whipper.

Eight, the boxer.

Nine, the dragoon.

Jack, the samurai.

Queen, the valiant knight.

King, the marksman.

Machina, the driller.

Rem, the twin dagger-wielder.

Kurasame, the ice reaper.

As their gossip ensued, two individuals missing from the cafeteria were spotted in their respective classroom. Before the tall male left, he turned towards the vermillion noble.

“Perhaps it’s best we maintain our observations on them, Lady Edelgard.” Hubert placed a hand on his chest, bowed his head, and continued. “There is little information on them, and I do not know if they prove to be a danger to us all.”

Although the other students had generally accepted their abrupt appearance after a week, Edelgard, Hubert, and Byleth kept their suspicion. How could trust come so easily when 14 students, one teacher, and two odd creatures not only seek for refuge but seek a premise to remain as students? It had already been five months into the new school term. Admittance to Garreg Mach Monastery is impossible. Future contenders and apprentices were given another chance for the next academic year.

Until now. The commander by the name “Kurasame” struck a deal with the archbishop. No one other than his Tonberry, Seteth, and Flayn knew of the spoken dialogues between the two. It simply took an hour for the holy maiden to grant permission and acceptance into their neutral sanction.

“May the Goddess Seiros watch over you.”

His features hardly faltered. (Not that there was any to start with thanks to his armored mask.) Kurasame nodded once and turned his back towards the neon green-haired, his rough footsteps echoed in the quiet chambers. Not a single comment nor reaction came from him afterward. Not even to his closest ally, the Tonberry.

They were immediately provided with spare dormitories. Unlike the other current students and staff, members of Class Zero were squeezed into shared bedrooms of two and three. Ace and Trey; Deuce, Cater, and Cinque; Rem and Queen; Eight and Machina; Nine, Jack, and King; Sice and Seven. Kurasame had shared rooms with the Moogle and Tonberry. Facilities were immediately provided without a second glance. The students and CO were prioritized in field trips compared to the other three houses. Special attention was bestowed by the Church of Seiros. Gifts came showering in their direction as if they had a birthday party every week. Other than the lack of a classroom, they were living a luxurious life… even more so than the nobles and rising lords from all three nations!

Jealousy was an understatement. Many of the faculties, staff, and students are confuzzled beyond reason about their existence. What gives? Why are they treated as if they were all kings and queens? Hatred and spiteful remarks were numerous. Prayers to Seiros began to taint with sinful desires to tear apart the newcomers. Even comments were proclaimed right before their face! Brutal skirmishes sparked between Class Zero and the other students, especially those from the nobility. Yet the majority marched onward without strife. (The exception being Cater, Sice, Nine, and Machina.) It was as if ill will bounced from their invisible force shield.

However, there were some that view them indifferently. If anything, they viewed them with great fixation. The three house leaders, Dimitri, Claude, and Edelgard spared none of their curiosity to civilians of Rubrum. All three were on mutual agreement that there was something off about this group. Yet that did not stop them from interacting with members from Class Zero. Dimitri did not hesitate to try and befriend them, especially with Ace and Queen. Claude made various attempts to dig information of their origin from Jack and Cater. Edelgard tried to decipher and outline their abilities, more so with Sice and Machina.

They remained an enigma to this day.

“Professor?”

Byleth glanced up from straightening her papers. She found herself looking at the white-haired noble. The rest of her students had scampered away after the dry lecture. Tactical lessons about the importance of geography bored many, if not all, to death. No one dared to stay after either for questions! The fact that the Adrestian Empire’s lord waiting after class meant another matter might be at hand.

“What do you think of them?”

Byleth corrected the pages’ posture until their edges were even.

“Are you talking about Class Zero?”

“Yes.”

“…They are special.” No reaction. Byleth glanced up from her documents. Then, she turned her back towards the female lord and gathered the rest of her belongings, but not without adding a remark. “I see potential in them. Perhaps too much potential…”

The way Class Zero operated… They were clearly above their levels. It was not to say that Byleth, Manuela, and Hanneman cannot handle their students. The three were professors with plenty of practical knowledge. Almost nothing could get past them. However, the newcomers were a force to be reckoned with.

Commander Kurasame commanded his students with minimal effort on his end, yet they were able to produce satisfying results to the salivating requesters. Patriotic praises are sung high from a few. Disobedience from orders was rare to their superiors. Death and bloodshed had never budged these students from their responsibilities. Relentless assaults rained upon their enemies and monsters with fluid movements. Weapons and magic tore apart their foes without a single bit of hesitation and remorse. These students were like soldiers…

No— They are soldiers.

Byleth shook her head.

Child soldiers.

The teal-haired furrowed her brows and stuffed a textbook into her brown duffel.

As an ex-mercenary, she had seen plenty of conflict throughout her life. At the tender age of six, she picked up her first weapon. At the tender age of ten, she killed her first monster. At the tender age of twelve, she killed another human being. That was due to her occupation; it was a part of her job. Whether she fought for a nation or not, it did not matter. She was a mercenary. They were hired, they completed their job, they were paid. Nothing more, nothing less.

But Class Zero? They were like her students… They were so young to be thrust into battle. Byleth curled her fingers inward, her nails digging into her trembling palm.

“I would never treat my students like foot soldiers.”

Commander Kurasame may be a teacher to them, but he is, above all, their commander. The way he ran his lecture is a stark contrast to Byleth’s. Times, when her students were forced to fight, was solely out of survival and monthly task set out by Lady Rhea. Kurasame held no punches. “Ice Reaper” nickname fit him so well when he trained his students. They went out to fight for the Church of Seiros almost every week for the Goddess’s cause. Breaktime was scarce for the children. The few times Byleth had spotted them, their slumped shoulders and worn features struck a chord within her. That made it all more heartbreaking.

The professor felt warmth envelop her right hand on the table. She glanced at Edelgard, who gently squeezed with both hands.

“I’m sure they have their reasons, Byleth. If anything, I’m grateful to have you as our teacher.”

How strange. Byleth’s eyes softened. She is being cared for by her students. Their hands parted only for the older female to caress Edelgard’s face. This caused the vermillion noble to nestle into the nearby comfort with a blooming smile. If Edelgard were to have someone like Commander Kurasame… Her navy hues darkened. Byleth would never allow them to teach her and her classmates. Thumb smoothing over her skin, Byleth cracked out a smile.

“And I’m grateful to have you as my girlfriend.”

“!”

Alas, that smile was ever so fleeting on Edelgard’s lips. It was replaced with widening hues, jaw dropped, and a deep shade of red bursting from her cheeks. Incoherent sayings rattled out of the girl’s mouth as she took a step backward. An arm was raised, the blush spreading to all parts of her face.

“W-Wha— Why did you have to say that?!”

“Is… that a problem?”

“Of course, it is!”

Their relationship was no mere student-teacher. After the excruciating waiting and “what if” games, they finally took the first step above friendship with the help of a few allies. Edelgard had both hands pressed against her own chest; a frown marked as a prominent characteristic. The corner of her lips wavered as she barked,

“It would be bad if someone were to overhear us!”

Not that anyone other than Sothis, Jeralt, and the Black Eagles knew about it. Their private affairs would open a can of worms should word spread. Gossip about Class Zero might be overridden by the mere mention of their affairs. How scandalous. Just imagining the headlines made her stomach drop. “Edelgard von Hresvelg, the future ruler for the Adrestian Empire, found dating with Professor Byleth!” Edelgard might as well give up on her purpose of becoming an emperor if their secrets were exposed.

Byleth squinted her eyes to a slit, a twinkle sparkling from the corner.

“You’re right. It would be bad.”

“I’m glad that you see where I’m coming from. Now, I suggest we— MMFH!?”

What a surprise! Byleth pressed her lips onto those soft, pink flesh. Though it was brief, that managed to silence the 18-year-old. Temporarily, that is. When they parted, a tiny mushroom cloud of steam blew from the top of her head, and in came the overreaction.

“What are you doing?! What if they see us?”

She began to take a couple more steps backward, her entire face becoming as red as a beet. This was her limit for today. Any more and she might faint on the spot! The professor shrugged her shoulders with a neutral expression.

“They didn’t though.”

“BYLETH!”

“Yes?”

Ugh, how unbearable! Edelgard would love to run up to the teacher, pull on her cheeks, and scold the older female of her social etiquette. She really needs to work on them! Did she even interpret the earlier outburst correctly? Based on her blank reaction, it appears not. There was that strange twinkle not too long ago though… Could that mean she was being teased instead?! Hark, the white-haired closed her eyes and coughed into her fist in lieu of retaliation. She stilled herself for a few seconds; the heat simmered down to nothingness as she guided their conversation back to the main topic. When the female cracked open her eyelids, she wondered,

“Do you think they could be swayed by my words?”

Recruitment is an important part of her current plan at the monastery. Although she placed a great deal of trust with Byleth, she knew that her goals would have a greater chance of achievement if there were more comrades standing by her side. It was a noble purpose… a noble purpose that requires the spilling of blood from many; it was a bleak path that can drive one to insanity. Edelgard has no choice but to march forward into the crimson puddles and road, lest she succumbs to something more than depression!

Byleth cupped her own chin and stared downward. Those navy hues examined the wooden tile’s patterns intently during her ponder. Class Zero was a group that she hardly knew much about. Secretive was the correct terminology to describe them. They appear open and possess a cheerful disposition, yet there was something hidden beneath their exterior. She could not explain her line of reasoning for it, but her instincts forewarned about their origin. It was at the tip of her fingertips… Confirmation and elaboration were all she needed. She gazed upward. Edelgard had kept her eyes on her older girlfriend. Eventually, the professor huffed.

“It’s too soon to say. We should leave them to be.”

“…You’re right. I must be getting ahead of myself.”

“Perhaps.” Then, the teal-haired reached out to pat the student’s hair. “Whatever their answers may be, I will always be by your side, El.”

“Yes… So long as I have you by my side, I have nothing to fear.”

“Good girl.”

Their conversation came to closure as Byleth resumed tidying the classroom and her supplies. This might take some time. In that case, Edelgard motioned a farewell to her teacher before taking her leave. Trouble was already waiting. A couple steps out of the lecture hall and she came to contact with another student.

“Oof!”

The impact possessed a bit more power than she had anticipated. Unfortunately, she had lost her balance. Edelgard fell forward and into the person. Had it not been for their quick reflexes, they would have collapsed together. Should Claude ever be present, he would have laughed his bottom off at her misfortune. If he were kinder than his schemes, he might have given pity points in her way. Her gloved hands pressed upon the male’s broad chest. The black attire, the red cape, the golden patterns… A single glance told her that it was none other than a student from the infamous Class Zero.

“King…?”

“Are you okay?”

His deep voice reverberated from his throat. Taller than both her and Byleth, the young man gently eased her away from his body. Compared to him, Edelgard felt like a midget. (He reminds her too much of Dedue.) She could not help but bob her head and slurred thanks. Seeing that no harm was done, the gunner softly scoffed and turned his back towards her.

“Please be careful. Had you bump into someone like Deuce or Jack, you would have been in trouble.”

Straight to the point; there was nothing more to add. Though there was truth to his words. Deuce was the weakest member, and she would have been the one causing trouble instead. As for Jack, he can be a flirt with the ladies. This holds no exception to those outside of Orience, the playboy spotted hanging out with a new girlfriend every week or so. King immediately left her behind, the house leader staring after him like a deer in headlights.

Not even a minute ticked by until the mullet-haired bumped into his classmate. An elongated sigh slithered out of his respiratory system when the dragoon tucked his hands into his pant’s pockets. Hunched over, Nine grumbled as his eyes followed the now-leaving Edelgard.

“Tch, she’s just staring at us like we’re animals.” Nine swiped the corner of his mouth while wearing a scowl. “I wonder what she’ll think if we give her a good ol’ lesson— OUCH!”

The dragoon vigorously rubbed the top of his head as Queen delivered a punishing blow. She retracted her hand and shook her head.

“Nine, please refrain yourself.”

“How could I? Don’t act so holy yourself, Queen. You saw the way she looked at us!”

“Lady Edelgard is not the type to act that way. Besides, it’s normal for them to view us that way. Didn’t you remember how we were treated back at the peristylium?” She was correct. Back when they were a part of Suzaku Peristylium as cadets, they attracted far more attention than needed. After their bravery from their first operation, Class Zero gained plenty of infamous focus. Everywhere they walk, whispers and murmurs tailed after them. Some were singing high praises as if they were the gods and goddesses. Some resented the students as they gained special permission to be a part of their academic institution. The fact that they were receiving similar treatment on this educational ground slightly disappointed them. It was unsurprising to an extent. She adjusted her glasses and returned her attention to Nine. “Then, again, I’m sure your simple mind could not begin to understand the complexity of our situation…”

“Oi oi, try saying that again to me, Queenie,” the rowdy boy got up to her face. He snarled and jabbed his finger on her chest. “I do understand our situation! I’m not stupid!”

She rolled her eyes. “You couldn’t even name the nations from Orience.”

“Ha! Yes, I can!”

“Right…. Right… Sure you can….”

“KORRA! I’ll prove it to you! It’s Lolicon—”

“Relax, Nine,” King placed a hand on the raging boy’s shoulder. He firmly squeezed on it as he muttered, “We have bigger issues to deal with.”

“Tch, we’re talking about that axe-wielding girl, aren’t we?”

“No…”

Queen exhaled loudly. Right at that moment, the other members of Class Zero coincidentally regrouped in the field. (Many of them wandered about the premise and had either returned from a mission or from the training grounds.) Thank goodness they would be able to divert Nine’s poor attention span to the main problem at hand.

“How goes your mission?” Ace asked the three participants: Deuce, Trey, and Cater.

“It went well,” the flutist clasped her hands with a faint smile. “We were able to escort and protect the Knights of Seiros into the Kingdom of Faerghus.”

“The walk was long though… and THIS guy wouldn’t shut up!” Cater pointed her thumb at the archer. “If I had known he would be coming, I would’ve convinced Nine and Machina to take both Deuce’s and my place!”

Trey pinched the bridge of his nose. “I hope you understand how much it pains me to hear that from you. You simply do not understand the importance of the political climate here in Fodlan. There is also the Crest system, to which they are to—”

“Ugh… Just SHUT UP.”

Sice held no punches when it came to annoyance, especially regarding Trey. The grim reaper dramatically covered her ears and groaned. She would love to stab a fork into her eardrums if she could. Actually, maybe it would have been better if someone taped up his voicebox so he would cease speaking. Trey would have been better had it not been for his running mouth. No one cares what he has to say… Not even the kindhearted Ace, Deuce, and Rem from Class Zero… and certainly not from Marianne, Mercedes, and Linhardt.

Seven rested a hand against her forehead. “Even though we’re thrown into another country, I’m surprised we are still acting as nothing happened.”

“What can we say?” Jack placed both hands behind his head, his head slightly tilted upward with a grin. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to make the best of our situation. It’ll do us no good to wallow in grief.”

“That’s problematic if Jack starts talking some sense…”

“Oooo, ouch, Sice, your words wound me.”

She stuck a middle finger at him as their comrades lightly chuckled or giggled at the exchange.

“Jackie is correct though~” Cinque popped in between Deuce and Cater, her arms tossed over their shoulders. The two nearly buckled under the abrupt weight as the mace-wielder giggled. “I think we’re brought here for a reason.”

“You may have a point…” Queen cupped her chin and frowned. “Ever since we’ve gotten sucked into that black portal, we’ve been stuck here.”

The unofficial class president labeled by her classmates vividly recalled the time of their transportation. All fourteen members were in their classroom. A lecture was handed out by Kurasame, who taught them advanced lessons on casting potent spells. His Tonberry calmly watched over the students. As for the Moogle, he had gathered worksheets from the diligent students. Almost an hour into the long session and a loud shatter resonated within the premise. Everything came to a standstill. The focus was dragged straight towards a black tear in space. Before they knew it, everyone in the room was pulled into the supernatural feature of the unknown.

This all happened in less than one minute. The next thing they knew, they were plopped face-first into the soil of what is called “Fodlan.” Despite their knowledge of survival, this barren landscape was a little extreme for the students. It was a miracle for them to receive help from the monastery had it not been for Commander Kurasame. Otherwise, they would have ended in a sadder state than they are currently.

“Do you think we could really head back?” Machina gripped Ace’s shoulders. He lightly shook him. “I have to return back for the sake of Izana.”

“Machina, I’m sure we will.” This time, Rem grabbed her childhood friend’s wrists and tore it away from the first Class Zero member. “It will do you no good to think about him. Right now, we need to figure out how to get back to our country.”

Seven puffed air and glanced elsewhere. “If we do, we’ll be dragged back into war. I like it here.”

War was frequent in Orience with the four nations. The Dominium of Rubrum, the Milites Empire, the Kingdom of Concordia, and the already-obliterated Lorican Alliance were slaughtering each other in the name of their morally grey reasons. Plenty of skirmishes and dying soldiers were almost a daily occurrence. This was all due to the peace treaty being violated by one other than Cid from the Milites Empire. He broke it and immediately struck the Suzaku Peristylium’s grounds. Screams and wails of dying students haunted their memories. Grown men trying to bring about the same treatment as they’ve done with the other students. Guns blazing in the roaring flames. Magic and summons recreated for the sake of a crucial minute. Blood spilled everywhere. Dying students were forgotten in history by the country's Crystals; name tags commemorating their existence by mere names. It was a violent conflict. Their comrades were dying each day. They couldn’t even catch much of a break. One slip-up and they were finished.

The fact that they were transported here during times of peace was seen as a blessing.

“I prefer if we stay here if you ask for my honest opinion.”

“Sure, it is peaceful, but I have a feeling we need to return back to Orience as soon as possible,” Cater said. “We may have a reason for being summoned here, but once we’ve accomplished it, then we can go home.”

“Back to the dreadful war again?”

She gravely nodded.

“Yes… Back into the conflict.”

“…”

Everyone became silent. Their heads hung, many of the students began to contemplate their reason for being here at the monastery. Why are they here…? And for what purpose? Who sent them here? A multitude of questions floated within their skull, desperation for answers becoming aggressive at its owner and listener. Are they tools for war once again? If they were brought here, does that mean they had to participate in another war-like effort? They are child soldiers, the vermillion-caped cadets dubbed the "Red Demons."

“Until we find a way back… Let’s enjoy ourselves~”

Cinque random antics were so unpredictable. However, that made her weighty statement all the more powerful; Ace could be seen singing some from himself too. He chuckled and lowered his head.

“She’s right,” he said. As the atmosphere lightened, he added, “We might as well think of this as a long-term vacation. Besides, I don’t think it hurts to get to know everyone else.”

Deuce intertwined her fingers and beamed. "I think we should have a picnic with everyone!"

"That sounds like an excellent idea."

That voice did not belong to anyone of the 14 members. Rather, the mature, feminine voice boomed from behind the card-wielder. Before he could glance over his shoulder, the ex-mercenary stepped forward and stood by his side. Ace cautiously watched her actions. As they were strangers upon this land, though they may have been a part of the monastery for a month by now, they were conditioned to be wary of anyone outside of their little Class Zero family and their self-proclaimed mother, Arecia Al-Rashia. You just cannot trust anyone. If Suzaku Peristylium's Commandment and co-conspirators always used sly, corrupted techniques to get them and Mother Arecia killed, then who else could they trust? This professor seems trustworthy though from their observations... even Kurasame's Tonberry warmed up to her.

"Hmph," King crossed his arms. "You think so?"

The professor nodded. Despite her brick-like expression, the teal-haired motioned,

"If anything, just as Ace mentioned, we should get to know everyone. I think it would be fair for us to get to know you all too."

"Oh~ So which Housey should we have a picnic with first?" Cinque raised a hand high in the air. "I think it'll be too much to have all three Housey to have lunch together, right?"

A glimmer sparkled from the corner of Byleth's eyes.

"Since I am the professor of the Black Eagles House, I would love to have you all meet my students."

[queenieships]

Questions 1-14 for the most recent one your reblogged!

Thank you for asking! Sorry it took a while lmao I got super lazy and distracted with it. Gonna put some of it under a readmore because it got particularly long!

1. When did youstart self shipping and why?

I mean I officiallystarted this blog I think… middle of last year? I can’t quiteremember the date off the top of my head but it’s been a while.However, I’ve been selfshipping for a very long time, justmentally! I kind of did that whole “Creating Ocs to ship withcharacters I liked and oh no those Ocs definitely aren’t based onme at all aha nope…”

2. How long have youbeen self shipping?

I think I’ve beenself shipping from a very young age! I remember being in primaryschool and being absolutely in love with Tasuki from Fushigi Yuugiand Axel from Kingdom Hearts (had a thing for red heads and fireapparently?) I genuinely must’ve been as young as 8, give or take ayear or two, so I’ve been self shipping and self inserting most ofmy life! 

3. Why do you selfship now?

I mean… it’sfun! And I mean, I fall in love with fictional characters withouteven meaning to. I just become very attached to them to the point Ican’t help but imagine myself with them! It’s also been a thingI’ve done for a very long time, a hobby, a habit, a copingmechanism – as a very creative but also very lonely child I thinkit was a huge way for me to feel like I was getting GOOD attentionfor once. I guess that’s kind of extended to adulthood. In ways aswell it helps me deal with some unhealthy situations I’ve had inthe past and it’s a way for me to explore and take interest intoxic and unhealthy ships in a safe and fictional environment. It’shelped me a lot improving with my art and honestly I officiallyjoined the self ship community because I was very lonely and had…NO FRIENDS.

4. Which of yourself insert characters is the most developed?

Probably myborderlands insert or my Newsies insert! I haven’t been toomassively focused on any other ship to develop my insert in thatuniverse very much and SOME of the universes I self insert in arequite difficult and elaborate when it comes to making characters forit (like in HxH)

5. Are your selfinsert characters 100% you or are they an exaggerated version ofyourself/leaning toward an OC?

I think it dependson the universe. Though I would say they’re exaggerated examples ofmyself, ideal versions or particularly troubled versions – All ofmy self insert characters look like me and have the same name and toa degree share my interests and talents – though I’ve also giventhem talents that I admire and really wish I had (such as singing,baking and sewing.)

6. If your selfinserts are closer to OCs what are some similarities they have withyou? What are some differences?

Lmao whoops guess Ikind of explained this in the one above? I guess something I like todo is depending on the universe I self ship in, I kind of pick a partof my personality that is a focus of that character. (For example, myNewsies insert is mostly centred around my social beliefs, mydepression and toxic relationship with my family and to a degree myfeeling of superiority. I’m actually very working class but you’llnotice most of my inserts are either very well off OR from thenicest, cleanest place in that universe they can be from – mynewsies insert is from a very wealthy family and my borderlandsinsert is from Helios.)

7. Do you have a‘type’ when it comes to f/os?

Yes but my type haschanged and shifted over time. There are definitely things I likethat kind of resonate throughout all of my F/Os. For example, almostall of my F/Os are confident to a fault. Most of them are also verymasculine, with a few exceptions. A character type I LOVE is therough delinquent with a heart of gold! (Seen in characters likeMondo, Metal Bat and Knuckle.) I also like perverted characters orones that show a lot of interest in women during the show/gamethey’re in (Examples being Scooter, Lance and Leorio.) I also seemto like people who have manual labour jobs or jobs that require themto be quite strong and get quite dirty and occassionaly kinda bruisedup (Examples being Scooter, Metal Bat, Scout, Hunk and Ellis who isnot yet on my F/O list but will be soon! A character I used to selfship with is Little Mac because I loved the idea of seeing him allsweaty and bruised up after a figh aha,,,)

8. Your top 3 OTPsamong your own selfships?

1. Me and Scooter!He is the problematic love of my life.

2. Me and Davey –although my focus has shifted dramatically from Davey to Scooter Istill definitely love this boy a lot

3. THIS IS SUCH ADIFFICULT PICK because honestly Scooter and Davey are and almostalways will be my top 2 BUT– my level of interest in my other F/Osshifts around so much? I’m even considering adding new F/Os thatI’ve become interested in recently, like… Mondo and Scout are thecharacters on the list I’ve shipped with for the longest but… Ithink maybe Leorio? I’ve always thought of Leorio and I as a reallygood couple, we’re so physically different and our personalitiesare such a good mix of getting along and clashing and I just!! idk Ithink number 3 is Leorio!!

9. Your top 5 OTPsamong others in the community?

@smoochesforseven and everyone she ships with. I love Moon so much and all of her shipsare wonderful though there is a soft spot for her and Newt!!

@better-than-nothin-kay and Rhys! We’ve spoken so much about borderlands and about her shipand honestly I love the female bodyguard dynamic it’s really cuteand they would physically look so good together!

@millizines andEarnest – I think this is like, the most undisputed OTP in thecommunity. I have never seen someone be so dedicated to their F/O andthey’re so genuinely in love with one another and have such aunique relationship!!

@momomochaccino andSandy (and spongebob!) – Seeing Momo so happy recently has beenamazing and witnessing what a positive impact the spongebob musicaland show has been for her is amazing!!

@peachie-doodles andLeonardo! Honestly seeing TMNT stuff on my dash makes me SO HAPPY andLeonardo has always been the one turtle I never really felt aconnection with BUT seeing someone so in love with him andappreciating him makes me really happy and makes me appreciate himmore as well! (also after speaking with her I realised that, althoughRaphael usually draws my attention because he’s big n buff andrough and tough but a total softy which FITS MY TYPE — Mikey isactually… my fucking boy?? I went around ready some fics andwatching some clips and like, damn. I really love Michaelangelo nowlmao, considering adding him as an F/O!!)

10. Has a roleplayblog for one of your f/os every interacted with you?

Lmao no. Honestly Iwould sob if that ever happened to me and I’ve seen other peoplegetting RP anons regularly in their asks and honestly I… reallywant it aha? I used to RP self ship stuff with a friend, where Iwould write as myself and the character she shipped with, and shewould play herself and the character I shipped with and!! it was!!great!! I would die to find something like that again.

11. Are you anartist or a writer in the community? Or do you do something elseentirely?

Um, both I guess! Iby no means think I’m a good artist but self shipping has reallyhelped me improve in a lot of areas. I highkey hate my style and atsome point I want to dedicate some time into developing it intosomething I can actually enjoy looking at. As for my writing, I’vealways been a talented writer – especially a few years ago. I waswriting frequently and everything I wrote was lowkey incredible.Nowadays, my writing is so few and far between and I am so stronglyout of practice it hurts and I feel almost embarrassed readingthrough any new fic I write. I’m hoping with time I can build myskills and confidence back up again!

12. Name a few ofyour favorite things about self shipping.

Honestly, myfavourite thing about self shipping is that I can feel like I havecompany regardless of how alone I actually am. Countless days spentby myself in my room and during lunchtimes back when I was at schoolcould be spent daydreaming about being loved and having adventureswith characters I enjoy! I always daydream a lot before I fallasleep, usually about cuddling up and spending the evening with oneof my F/Os before I fall alseep. Honestly without selfshipping Idon’t know what I’d do with my time. It’s such a huge thingthat fills up my day to day life and makes me happy, I genuinelydon’t think I’d still be here without it. 

13. Talk about apositive experience you’ve had with the community.

Honestly this iskind of hard for me lmao? I wouldn’t say I’ve had many hugelypositive or many hugely negative experiences overall. There arepeople I’ve found I get along with, there are some people that rubme the wrong way, there are some people I just haven’t spoken to! Ihaven’t really received any hate apart from someone being a dickabout my aesthetic commissions but I don’t really receive theattention I would like to either (is that bratty and selfish?Probably! But at least I’m honest about it lmao.) 

14. Finally, talkabout a few of your favorite self shippers!! (Honestly, talk about asmany as you would like!)

I don’t reallylike doing this because I’m afraid I’ll miss someone off andthey’ll feel sad about it or something BUT HERE’S A LIST OF PEEPSI SPEAK TO OFTEN AND CARE ABOUT AND TREASURE (note just becauseyou’re not on this list it doesn’t mean I don’t like you ordon’t enjoy your content! Just means this people I am particularlyclose with.)

@smoochesforseven

@better-than-nothin-kay

@millizines

@ckselfinsert

@limey-blue-arty-do

@momomochaccino

[droidafrica]

Redmi 9-series officially entered into the African smartphone market in the close of July last month. The series includes the entry-level Redmi 9A, Redmi 9C and the vanilla Redmi 9, which have the upper spec sheet in the trio. We were able to get a unit of the standard Redmi 9, and this is our review of the device.

Redmi 9 Key Specifications and Features

Dimensions; weight: 163.3 x 77 x 9.1 mm; 198 grams

Display: 6.53-inch IPS LCD 1080 x 2340px FHD+ with 19.5:9 ratio and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection

CPU: 2.0GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio G80 with Mali-G52 MC2 GPU

Storage and RAM: 64 GB and 4GB RAM; expandable up to 256GB via microSD

OS: Android 10.0 with MIUI v12

Camera: Quad-cameras: 13MP f/2.2 main camera; 8MP f/2.2 wide lens; 5MP macro and 2MP depth lens

Front camera: 8MP f/2.0 Selfie

Video recording: 1080p/720@30fps

Connectivity: Dual Nano-SIM: GSM / HSPA / LTE

Other Features: Fingerprint scanner (rear), USB Type-C

Colors: Carbon Gray, Sunset Purple, Ocean Green, Pink/Blue

Battery: 5020mAh with 18W fast charging

What’s the box content of the Redmi 9?

The Redmi 9 is available in Carbon Gray, Sunset Purple, Ocean Green and Pink/Blue colors. The box comes with two of those colors plastered atop. Luckily for us, one of the colors on the box, was what we saw when when opened the box. The full box content of the Redmi 9 includes:

Redmi 9 smartphone

Wall charger (10W)

USB Type-C cable

SIM ejector pin

Multiple language User manual

Design and Built Quality

If you are coming to the Redmi 9 from the Redmi 5 or 6, you may notice sharp changes in design, but if you’ve used the Redmi 8-series, or even the Note 8, you may not notice much changes in design. Generally, I found the Redmi 9 to be far sturdy than the Redmi 5 of 2018, but you might not notice much improvement in built-quality if you’ve owned a recent Redmi phone. Besides, who makes a crappy, cranky phone in 2020, except the device is sold below $70 USD, which the Redmi 9 is not.

Button placement remains industry stardard; power button and Volume rocker to the right hand side, IR blaster and secondary mic atop the phone, triple card slot to the left hand side and 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type-C and a single loud speaker at the basement.

The back of the device has a circular textured finishing, which help formed the visible circle towards the four rear camera modules at the back.

As far as built quality goes, the device is very sturdy but, it tad weighty too. Official specs mentioned 198 grams, but my review unit peaked at 202 grams without SIM and SD card inserted. But hey, a 5020mAh battery lies on the inside, which should make up for the extra weight.

Redmi has great display, if not for the brightness nit

The Xiaomi Redmi 9 spot a 6.53-inches display with a dew-drop notch above the screen and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. On paper, the device has Full-HD+ screen with 1080 x 2340 pixels resolution. At the price, the display has great colors, and don’t even think of noticing any pixel with your naked eyes. But there is one problem, the screen is not bright enough for outdoor use.

You’ll enjoy the display while indoor, and you might need to reduced the brightness at some lighting situations. But this is not the case during outdoor use, and you might need to shade the screen with your palm, especially under direct sunlight use. Surprsingly, a smaller, cheaper device with HD+ screen did better under direct sunlight than the Redmi 9.

A 1080p juicy screen marred with weaker brightness nit

I think Xiaomi is being careful not to strain users eyes with overpowering brightness. They even did include Reader Mode which ultimately alter display color reproduction and overall brightness for a better indoor use.

So display wise, the Redmi 9 is a win for some, and rather ‘not-win’ for others, sort of. The outdoor busy guys might not enjoy covering the display of their device while in use during sunny days, but for indoor loners like myself, the Redmi 9 screen is much more enough, considering other great features that this device offers, like the ones below.

Hardware can’t get any better at this price!

Intel inside!, Sorry I meat Mediatek inside!. The CPU inside the Redmi 9 is Helio G80 chip from Mediatek. The Helio G-series are Mediatek gaming CPU for not just mid-range smartphones anymore, but also for entry level device like the Redmi 9A and 9C.

So is the Xiaomi Redmi 9 a gaming smartphone? Yes, sort of. But should I be having the likes of Blackshark phone or, Asus ROG Phone or even the recent Lenovo Legion Phone on my table right now, I would never call the Redmi 9, a gaming phone (I’m looking at you Infinix Note 7). But since I don’t have those phones, and to anyone who don’t have any of those phones, well, the Xiaomi Redmi 9 is of course a gaming phone.

On paper, the Mediatek Helio G80 in the Redmi 9 has Octa-core CPU in all. There is a dual 2.0 GHz from Cortex-A75, and Six 1.7 GHz from Cortex-A55, pegged with Mali-G52 GPU (up to 950MHz). Our review unit has 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

Sadly, I don’t play games, for now, so I did not run any gaming performance test. But we’ll surely start doing gaming tests when we resume back on YouTube, hopefully soon. You can check out our long abandoned channel here, and if it is okay by you, please subscribe to it. We are surely coming back soon.

Talking about testing, we did run few benchmarking test though, and our results are shown below.

Xiaomi Redmi 9 Benchmarking Tests

AnTuTu V8: 200,007

GeekBench v5.1: Single-core: 361

GeekBench v5.1: Multi-core: 1,320

3DMark SSE – OpenGLES 3.1: 1,332

3DMark SSE – Vulkan: 1,323

Even though we did not run any practical gaming performance test, no one would expect a smartphone touching 200k in Antutu benchmark to stutter while surfing even the heaviest web page on the internet. Thankfully, the Redmi 9 and it Helio G80 CPU did not stutter during all our basic test.

But we wanted to see the limit of the phone, so we loaded 10 different web pages in 10 Google Chrome tabs, to see how many tabs will refresh when we switch back and forth between the tabs. Interestingly, the Redmi 9 and it 4GB RAM handled all the 10 tabs without a single refresh on any page. But when we pushed it to 20 tabs, some of the initial tabs started refreshing when revisited.

In all, the Helio G80 is a worthy mid-range offer, and offers hug and notable improvement over the Snapdragon 439 CPU used in the Redmi 8-series. to be, the CPU is one of the major stand-out specs of the Xiaomi Redmi 9.

Camera Performance of the Redmi 9

There are four camera modules at the back of the Redmi 9. The main 13-megapixel snapper, with 8-megapixel wide lens, 5-megapixel macro snapper and a 2-megapixel depth shooter, while a single 8-megapixel selfie seats upfront.

We tried out all the sensors above, and they all worked as intended. The 13-megapixel main snapper can capture crisp images in outdoor shots. As for indoor snaps, well, good images are assured with good lightening condition and stable hands. But on the contrary, images get grainy with high noise level.

Sadly, the single LED flash at the back did not really help much as well. I’m not even sure whether there is a software glitch here or something else. For example, when the LED light is set to auto, it won’t fire during some low-light shoots especially when the object is bright, but not adequately bright.

One other issue I have with the LED flash is, it use same focusing light as capture light. This is what I mean, usually, a smartphone LED light is fine-tuned to produced low light during image focusing, then fire a more stronger and bright light to capture the image. But the Redmi 9 is not so, same focusing light captures the image without even a blink, leading to sharp-less indoor images. But again, images taken under good lightening conditions are great.

Sincerely, I enjoy playing around with the camera on Redmi 9. You could also capture a larger filed of field on the device, that is where the bundled 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens comes in, but it can’t go above 118 degrees.

Then, there is the isolated 5-megapixel macro lens, which performed incredible well in my test. Thanks to the lens, I was able to count the legs of this House Fly, or is this Bush Fly?

Finally, the frontal selfie snapper, which can shoot in normal mode or AI portrait mode, and surpsingly, even though there is no LED flash upfront, the frontal 8-megapixel lens is still able to capture decent images.

Normal (Good light)

Portrait (Good light)

Indoor (low light)

Software is MIUI 11 Above Android 10.

The Redmi 9 runs on MIUI 11 out of the box with Android 10 underneath. Usually, with MIUI, you get all apps on the home screen without additional drawer, and the app drawer fans mostly resort to a third party launcher to get their beloved feature. Well, with MIUI 11, extra launcher may not be needed as the OS now have two home screen interface, of which the second interface is app drawer based.

One major argument for MIUI is the customization features. Through the MIUI theme app on the Redmi 9, users can access and download almost unlimited skin and themes of varying customization, given that viewing and interacting with Adsense Ads is okay with you.

Aside the Ads, it is important to note that Xiaomi have it own services and apps, tailored for the Chinese world, a little similar to Google service and apps. Most of these apps and services are preloaded even on the international variants of Redmi and Xiaomi Mi devices. And for phones like the Redmi 9 that come with Google Services and apps, as well as Xiaomi Services and apps, expect a handful number of bloatware.

Aside the two issues above, MIUI is a great OS. Yes, you read that well, MIUI isn’t just a User Interface (UI) but an Operating System (OS), and when combined with Google’s fastest OS till-date (the Android 10), the result is a smooth and buttery fluid User Experience (UX). Although the combination took out above 12GB ROM from the built in 64GB of storage.

I don’t really like the old ‘all apps on the home screen’ feature of MIUI, so after setting up the device, I instantly switch to the App drawer version of the interface. For what it worth, OS alone won’t amount to a smoother interface, the hardware department also has it role to play, thankfully, the Helio G80 CPU plays it game very well. And if there is any area I did not encounter any issue with the Redmi 9, is in the software department.

The notification drawer is kept very minimal, and a single click (inside phone setting), will switch you from normal to dark mode in seconds. Software connecting the peripherals of the phone are will optimized as well. The phone will guide you to set up the fast fingerprint scanner, the built-in speaker is loud enough for my Parlor. The camera components are connected fairly well, except for the LED flash talked above earlier.

How About Battery Performance?

One of the reason while the Redmi 9 is a bit weighty, is due to the built-in 5020mAh battery. After a whole 24 hours of pushing and pressing the Redmi 9, I had to, reluctantly, charge it remaining 30% juice this morning for charging sake, and not because I know the device might be going off anytime soon.

The Redmi 9 also come with great battery management app, which when turned on, gives you almost twice your battery run time, but to the detriment of background running apps, like emails, chat notifications etc.

Charging the device from 30% to 100% this morning took around 1H:37M. Kinda slow right? Well, perhaps, and that is because even though the Redmi 9 support 18W fast charger, a 10W charger is what you’ll get out of the box, and not the faster 18W charger.

Xiaomi Redmi 9 Pricing, Alternative and Conclusion

On the international front, the Redmi 9 starts at around $119 for the base model with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage. But in local market, Nigeria for example, the device is available with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage and price at N66,000.

Phones with similar specs you can get at this price includes: Infinix Note 7 Lite, Samsung Galaxy M11, Tecno Camon 15, Huawei Y7p and the OPPO A31 smartphone.

When I got the Redmi 9, I wasn’t expecting the device to tick all spec box, knowing fully well that it a mid-range offer, but it did, sort of. Seriously, it interesting to see how much specs and features Xiaomi has pack into the Redmi 9, and despite the little hitches we noticed in the camera department and the less-bright LCD screen, the Redmi 9 is still a big bang for the buck, offering Mediatek Helio G80 under $120 dollars.

Redmi 9 Unboxing and Review: Great value for money Redmi 9-series officially entered into the African smartphone market in the close of July last month. The series includes the entry-level…

[pauldeckerus]

Lightroom Sucks: An Open Letter to Adobe

���Panic on the streets of London, panic on the streets of Birmingham, I wonder to myself, could life ever be sane again?” You’d be forgiven for thinking The Smiths were singing about wedding photographers mid-summer running around the streets in a naked hysteria after they’ve just installed the latest Lightroom update.

Adobe, I hope you read this because it seems like for too long now you’ve ignored the issues and released update after update that actually made things worse, NOT better!

This open letter is not a plea for you to up your game — it’s a demand. You owe it to all the subscribers that have shown great loyalty to you for such a long time.

“Ooh look I have 6 weddings in the queue, I’m a little stressed and wedding season is taking its toll, but it’s OK as I have three days solid booked out to make a dent in things. Ok, I’ll just load up Lightroom…” And this is where a whole world of frustration, irritation and wanting to walk into traffic begins. For while we may have time finally to catch up on some editing, Lightroom generally decides to throw a spanner or ten in the works!

Now I want to get one thing very straight here, Lightroom is a wonderful piece of software… when it works properly. It’s revolutionized the way wedding photographers process work, making it easier and more convenient.

Why oh why then does Adobe continue to release updates that seem to make it almost unusable at times? At best these days my experience of using it is sub-par, a whole catalog of issues are present at all times, and of course, I’m not the only one who has this experience. So Adobe for the love of God will you PLEASE sort it out!

I hear time and time again from people involved in their beta testing that Lightroom needs to be rebuilt rather than updated and that Adobe is aware of ‘bugs’ and trying to resolve them. Well, quite frankly, that isn’t good enough! How many hundreds of thousands of wedding photographers use Lightroom and pay their subscription to CC? It’s impossible to know, but MORE than enough to warrant Adobe giving us more back — a hell of a lot more.

There’s also a stark warning here for Adobe: you rest on your laurels and eventually someone else will release something and everyone will jump ship. You only have to see how many people have switched to Sony from Canon or Nikon to understand that brand loyalty doesn’t mean anything if something shinier, better, and more appealing comes along. It will happen one day to you too, Adobe, if you continue to be so complacent and not give us the software we want and deserve.

Minimum System Requirements

I’m going to list some of the issues I face using Adobe Lightroom in a moment and then a load that other photographers have also shared with me. Firstly though I want to examine what the recommended system specifications by Adobe are because it makes for surprising reading!

Source: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/system-requirements.html

So a minimum 4GB RAM and 12GB recommended. Yes, that’s right: a MINIMUM of 4GB RAM. So what Adobe is saying is that you CAN run Lightroom on a machine with as little as 4GB of RAM, really?

12GB is the recommended… how old are these specs? I think that’s one of the things that irks me about Adobe’s approach to their software packages. If they said ‘hey it’s a minimum of 16GB RAM but we’d recommend 32GB’ it would help us make informed decisions when spending $2,500 on our editing machines.

If you use Lightroom as your main memory-intensive application then you could easily be lulled into thinking that a cheaper spec machine with less RAM is fine, when it really wouldn’t be. Adobe do you really think Lightroom CC can run fine on a machine with 4GB of RAM? Erm, no!

I Have Issues

I tried to write down all the issues I face using Lightroom, some will no doubt have slipped my mind, but I think the list in itself is pretty comprehensive and includes the following:

– Flicking between images even with Smart Previews enabled takes too long, there’s a pause while it renders. Ok, this is one everyone pretty much has, but it seems to be getting worse!

– Preset not showing as being applied until I make a change. It just shows the straight-out-of-camera version until I change the exposure or crop/rotate and then BINGO, there’s the preset. This is an intermittent issue, sometimes it’s there, sometimes not… however, when it’s there it affects several hundred photos at a time. It’s a confusing and irritating problem. It seems to occur if I edit for a few hours, like Lightroom is tired and can’t be arsed anymore, keen to get home for its dinner and watch The Walking Dead.

– Trying to crop or rotate anything involves a lag similar to my 3-year-old when I ask him to do pretty much anything. This is a new issue (in LR, not with my 3-year-old — that’s always been there with him), and it’s very annoying, Adobe!

– In full-screen mode the left menu panel used to pop out when you hovered over it, it no longer does this, except last Tuesday when it DID, only to revert back to not doing so by Wednesday morning. Apart from that delightful Tuesday, I have to click to open it and click to close it again.

– Then there’s the curious issue for whenever a new update is available, my current version either suddenly runs super sloooooow or stops working altogether, forcing me to update to the latest one. Now I’m not suggesting Adobe is somehow sending a sneaky patch to break my existing version so I HAVE to update, but if they are it’s REALLY annoying and happens so often it’s hard to not feel a little suspicious about.

– Let’s not forget the issue where you are using a catalog and wish to open a different one, which results in the first catalog successfully closing, but Lightroom just sitting there and not responding until you either force quit (or sometimes actually have to switch off the machine as it won’t force quit), or after several minutes it finally decides to respond again and open the new catalogue.

– Photoshop opens weird about 75% of the time. So if you’re like me and like to add an extra bit of sharpening to portraits or clone out bird poop from the fence where the couple is standing etc, you’ll Command E to open Photoshop. It’s great you can open PS from LR, edit, save and it appears back in LR as a .tiff. Bravo Adobe, that is one nifty function! Except when it opens like this three-quarters of the time.

Apologies for the portrait, clearly not keeping it real at this point of the wedding – this was just the only time I remembered to screen shot the issue

I haven’t cropped anything from the PS window here, that’s how it opens most of the time. To make it usable I have had to click ‘view’ and then ‘full screen with menu bar’ so many times recently that I’m starting to get RSI (and RAGE) from it.

Incidentally, if anyone else is suffering the same issue, I found a quick way to make it display correctly. I stumbled upon by pure accident as I tried to ALT+TAB back to Lightroom. My RSI finger completely unaware of what it should be doing pressed the desk instead of the ALT key by mistake, thus showing me that pressing TAB alone changes the view mode and makes it normal again… hallelujah!

There are other issues too. It’s slow. It lags a lot. If you import images to a new catalog you have to close LR after it’s imported them and reopen again or it runs slower than me in a school sports day father’s 100-meter race. Oh, and don’t forget to close the histogram as having a tiny graph at the top of your screen makes LR wheeze with pain at the pure exertion of displaying it.

While all these things might not seem much, they impact my day to day work, it’s an inconvenience I could do without, and as I’m paying regularly for the use of this software I’d damn well like it to work properly! It costs me time and frustrates the living daylights out of me.

System of a Down(beat Photographer)

I appreciate I don’t have a monster of a machine, but it is actually a higher spec than Adobe recommends. So going on their information, supplied in order for us to make informed purchases, I shouldn’t be having any issues, certainly not from a machine performance point-of-view anyway.

Problems in the Community

I asked the Facebook community that I run (please join us on there if you aren’t already a member) what issues people were facing and what spec machines they were using because as with most things in life, you worry that it’s maybe just you. It turns out I’m not alone!

Rob Georgeson [Intel Core i5 / 16GB RAM / 1GB NVIDIA Graphics Card / 120GB SSD HD]: “My pc definitely seems to be working harder just to do basic editing. It used to be a breeze but now I can hear the fans running at full speed trying to get my computer to chill the f**k out”.

Andrew Bowness & Esther Wild [Windows 10 / Intel i7-6700 @ 3.4ghz / 16GB RAM / SSD / 6GB Nvidia Graphics Card, Mac OS High Sierra (10.13.6) / Intel Core i5 / 8GB RAM / Radeon Pro 2048 Graphics Card] also are having the same issue, Andrew’s being so bad ‘I put music on to drown it out.’ Esther also has issues with it hanging and getting the spinning wheel of doom.

Michael Newington Gray & Paul Marbrook [Mac OS High Sierra / Intel Core i7 / 16GB RAM / AMD Radeon R9 Graphics Card, MAC OS High Sierra / Intel Core i5 / 24GB RAM / NVIDIA GeForce GT Graphics Card]: When flicking between images in Develop module the images aren’t loading / going sharp until I zoom in and out.

Oli Kelly [Windows 10 / Intel Core i5 / 8GB RAM / GeForce GTX 1050 Graphics Card]: When I’m doing brush work it can lag out so badly and make the mouse skip over the image like it’s buffering. When flicking through images it can pixelate the original raw for sometimes 10 seconds until it remembers what I have done to the image and then shows my edit.

Denver Aubrey [Mac OS High Sierra / Intel Core i5 / 24GB RAM / AMD Radeon R9 Graphics Card]: Everything seems to lag despite massive amounts of ram and a decent spec iMac. Drag a slider, let go, wait for half a second or a whole second and then see the effect. Maybe. Just updated LR CC classic today to the latest version. Now LR opens for about 2 mins and then unexpectedly quits.

Ally Hedayati [Mac OS High Sierra / Intel Core i7 / 20GB RAM / AMD Radeon HD 1024MB Graphics Card]: When I want to do some external editing in PS from LR, PS revets it to SRGB – making a black and white image colour for instance. Even though I have “turn to SRGB” unticked.

Jade Eleanor Evans [Mac OS High Sierra / Macbook Pro 15″ 2017 / Intel Core i7 / 16GB RAM / Radeon Pro 560 4GB Graphics Card]: Too slow, not sure what on earth it’s doing but I have one of the new macs (2017) and it gets so hot it actually leaves red marks on my legs when I have it on my lap. Even when its used on a desk it still gets hot and the fans sound louder than my hair dryer! Also for some unknown reason when I export and choose ‘resize to fit, longe edge’ I type in whatever for the long edge and that ends up being the shorter edge… No-one has any idea why it does this! So if I type in 2048 for the long edge (I mostly shoot landscape), they export at 3072 x 2048 making the shorter edge 2048 (yes I am definitely clicking ‘long edge’ not ‘shorter edge),

Jamie Ousby [Mac OS Sierra / Intel Core i7 / 16GB RAM / NVIDIA GeForce GT Graphics Card]: Lightroom doesn’t export some exposure changes for around 10 x images when exporting a wedding of 800+ images. Go to the image in question and adjust the exposure slider up and it accepts it. Switch to full screen to take a look and it shows the correct exposure for a split second and then flashes back to the “as shot” exposure. No matter what I do when exporting this image it will not accept the exposure setting.

A bride on her wedding day still traumatised after installing a new Lightroom update the day before. Image by Andrew Billington

What is your current relationship with Lightroom?

The Other Side of the Coin

Not everyone we spoke to experienced issues with Lightroom. In fact, some found it to work perfectly. Their specs were similar to those above with one large exception – their memory ranged between 32GB and 64GB RAM. So is this the solution?

Adobe, we’d love for you to clarify just what is going on here. Is it just you’ve told us incorrect information when stating the software should run perfectly on 12GB RAM (hell, it should still run ok on 4GB according to your minimum specifications)? Or, as I’ve been told many times by your beta testers, is the software inherently broken and does it need rebuilding from the ground up? If that’s the case, is this going to happen, and if so when?

Yours Sincerely

I did consider signing off this open letter with ‘yours faithfully’, but to be completely honest I’m only faithful to you because there aren’t any serious alternatives on the market at the moment. Yes, Capture One can do a similar job, but from what I’ve heard it’s not quite enough to make the leap over.

So I’ll stick with you until something better comes along… or you buck up your ideas enough to actually make this more than a marriage of necessity. Over to you, Adobe!

About the author: Andy Hudson is the co-founder of Photographers Keeping it Real, a website, award, and podcast for documentary wedding photographers. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors. You can find more content by Hudson and connect with him on his website and Facebook group. This article was also published here.

Image credits: Header illustration based on photo by Mwangi Gatheca

from Photography News http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PetaPixel/~3/2CnQC6wObGA/

[my-heart-is-but-a-gentle-moon]

Song Meme for Myself Using My Shuffled Soundcloud Liked songs

Opening Credits: Winner - Sentimental // Lyrics

(Too motherfreaking true OAO I just realized tonight (27th of June) I was moongender, faegender and stargender and now This! Fate! Universe! I Love and Adore you!- Also Very True to my personality. I only now checked the lyrics of this song (until now I only enjoyed the music and vocals and didn’t look into the lyrics but lo and behold! Stars! Sentimentality! Drawing! Fluctuating emotions! Yes! Too much me!)

Waking up: Relaxing Piano Music 

(Precisely me. Morning me is slow, out of it, sluggish- zombie like but chill - not as clearheaded as this though)

First Day Of School: MegaloSecret [A Megalovania Secret Song Mash Up] 

(Makes sense. I don’t remember most of it. But some of it I do and I wouldn’t mind sharing the little I remember!!) (it does catch the excitement and giddiness of it though)

Falling In Love: Karma Fields - Build The Cities // Lyrics 

(At first I didn’t quite understand how it could work as my falling in love song - but the Chorus. The first verse.

The flames light our future are my sparks of love and passion towards them

Making empires of sound are the writings and gushings I have out of them 💗💞💗💞💗💞💗 and that is usually what soothes my tears away into happiness and warmth.

The first verse is the illusion of heteronormativity destructed as I keep falling deeply in love with fictional characters and coming into the self shipping community made me feel a bit vulnerable at the start, as well as immensely vulnerable in front of my beloved f/os.

Burning bridges are possibly me severing the ties to my past f/os and building the cities is creating my worlds with them? 💗💞💗)

Fight Song: Wrath of Wrathia 

(Dang that must’ve been an explosive and incredibly tense fight. - I feel like this relates a lot to Saeran’s recent breakdown of jealousy and feelings of inadequacy as well as Jumin’s loneliness as I’m trying to accommodate to Saeran as well as balancing my own self care- Which. Is. Hard AF.)

Breaking Up: Hopes and Dreams Undertale // Cover + Lyrics

(There are no lyrics so I looked up a song cover aandddd, the first one I found was Radix’s so- Apparently we never gave up hope despite our fights and kept standing strong together because our happy days will never be gone, that all of the things we sought- the love, the understanding, the support through it all, this long process for our ideals of love and what a relationship should be- will all be worth this fight 💗💞💗💓💗)

Life’s OK: oneofone // Lyrics

(Classic us love song :’) 

Lonesome, Warmth, Soothing and Comfort- Truly a personification of us cuddling for comfort after reconciling after our fight, seeking peace in each other)

Getting Back Together: Tasogare Otome x Amnesia - Choir Jail // Lyrics

(Wow. Infinity percent me towards them and I didn’t even realize it until now.

Me, with my doubts with societal views against the logicality of fictoromanticism and of not being able to be completely certain of their actual wants through dimensions- if I can still allow myself to wallow in my sparks and fire of passion for them- which I always find myself wanting to do and me having debated with myself (way back a month or two ago) against the ‘they’re fictional, they’re not real, you’re being delusional’ vs my passionate love for them and not wanting to hurt their feelings and doubt their existence if they do actually exist in an alternate dimension.

Purifying the darkness and the fragility of our emotions- easily swayed by negativity, our heartache, missing each other in this burning darkness, our fights, Saeran’s jealousy and desperation from his past trauma, me- inexperienced and having a tough time dealing with that as well as balancing my me time and Jumin’s insecure loneliness with our love, my writings and art of it, our songs and the like 💗💞💗 and the messages of fate sent through quotes, books plus the songs that timed themselves with it, the coincidental fates of incidents I’ve been receiving throughout all of my life but especially recently 💗💞💗💞💗💞💗🌟💖🌟!!)

Wedding: Sakamichi No Apollon - Apollon Blue 

💗💞💗💞💗💞💗!!!! Exactly the type of intimate, peaceful, harmonizing, fantastical/magical air I want in my wedding with those sweethearts.... //////////

Birth Of Child: (lol what?) Ciel In Wonderland 

- Haunting but deeply wonderful? Otherworldly, has some eastern vibe to it, I’m thoroughly hypnotized listening to this, it also has those music box/toy piano/xylophone + these harps with the haunting vocals???? The guitar and flute gosh all together????? MAgnificent. Otherworldly. - the xylophone sounds to it here and there. I’d happily have a fictional child with them (even with the pain and distaste I have for s./ex) if this is the type of vibe we’d have raising them together. It’ll be far less scary as long as we’re together.

Final Battle: Cyber Thunder Cider // Lyrics

(Sounds battlish indeed but why am I battling???) - Okay- Lyrics- Seriously- Each and every song here??? Too much me, and I didn’t even know some of the lyrics to these songs before checking them right now. This is me against myself, There are also references to past songs here!! - A surfer (me whose emotions are easily swayed and fluctuated by others’ emotions and small little happenings) who wanders in search of imagination (self shipping, anime, otome games, manga, k-dramas, astrology, spirituality - whatever’s considered ‘fiction’ I love. Even some sci fi stuff though that less. Who wallows in it (just like I wallowed in the fire I have for them) even though Fae’s scared of the off case Fae’s being delusional.

And just me, regardless if it’s selfshipping or not- battling against embracing my own truth publicly vs cowardice against backlash from society (as I’m hypersensitive I cry easily and am hurt easily) and me jumping from blaming society for shitty molds and stiff hurtful views vs berating myself for my cowardice and overall negative thoughts about myself (Though I’ve learned how to only be open with those who I know will accept me, whether it be partly or fully)+++heartbreaks (whether full on crying or empty, void depressed heartbreak) at night from missing them, loneliness, possibility of delusionality, at burning myself for them, as well as others out of people pleasing and a genuine compulsion need for them to be happy and to encourage them.) (I am progressing in reaching balance though 💗)

Death Scene: Waiting Too Long // Lyrics

(Well. I mean. At least it’s not dementia and hopefully it’s from old age. - I feel like this is talking about how I, as well as my loved ones have waited so long to be able to reunite in our next lives. Jumin, Saeran and I...- They are my home. 

and it makes sense in relation to my feelings towards death and how I probably will turn out this weak physically in old age, believing in reincarnation but at the same time wondering and uncertain if to fear death as we can never be quite sure if it really is the end, or if there’s more for our souls in the afterlife.

yet choosing to remain with my beliefs that bring me this feeling of home and peace with them, of reuniting with them...)

Funeral Song: Doukyuusei Piano Ver. 8 

(a gentle song. Very short though. Does that mean people will mourn me for a short period of time?)

End Credits: Tomorrow // Lyrics

Fuck, and this is where the Death Scene comes into place. The first verse is me and the allegory of Life being the sandcastle and the waves of the ocean tearing away at us in every wave of it- representing Time. and I’m closer than I’ve ever been to the reincarnation with them, my soul reaching theirs in the afterlife, our true home where our souls are tingling and ever so passionate for one another, ever longing, ever yearning- and finally, breaking through the dimensional border in this metaphysical plain, where we can finally continue our lives together in a shared dimension, most hopefully in both sides.

But the chorus is both them, and I - we are also afraid of the tomorrow that’s about to come- the day of my opportune death, of old age- because our physical bodies won’t remember this lifetime, even if our souls would be able to feel them... and we’re afraid of losing these precious, precious memories...

but still, we’re letting time do its’ inevitable, time and old age, ready to finally meet despite it all, because we’re fated, and even without the memories, we know we’re destined to be together, through each and every universe, every lifetime, whether together or apart, in any and every lifeform we come back to these universes.

[everytechever]

The Nokia brand had finally made its comeback to the world of mobile phones thanks to HMD Global. After finalizing the sale from Microsoft last December 2016, the people behind the newly formed Finnish company started working on various devices that will bear the famous mobile brand we’ve all grown to love. And they sure know how to make a great entrance, as they finally unveiled the first line of Nokia smartphones running on the Android operating system in Q1 2017.

After introducing the amazing Nokia 6 to the public last January, it was followed right away by two new devices that had surely attracted the attention of low-cost consumers and avid fans alike. The Nokia 3 and Nokia 5 were announced in Barcelona, Spain during the 2017 Mobile World Congress, receiving positive feedback not only because of its beautiful design and affordable price tags, but also due to the Nokia – Android combo finally made possible in reality, which was a highly-requested combination even during the Lumia smartphone era.

With the new Nokia smartphones finally released in the Philippines last month, the local phone users are craving for a firsthand experience of all three handsets. And while it’s great to have such a welcoming response, there are also questions that being asked about Nokia’s comeback. Do all three Nokia smartphones stand a chance in the local market where Android phones are being released in rapid succession by well-known mobile companies? What can the Nokia 3, 5, and 6 offer to create a lasting impression among consumers? And finally, are we really ready for Nokia Android phones?

Let’s see if we can answer all three questions with our review of the Nokia 5.

PHONE DESIGN

Nokia phones have always been known for their stunningly unique designs, often going all-out to make sure that they stood out above other devices under the same market range. Despite the existence of tough competition among Android smartphones, the Nokia 5 did not fail to deliver the high expectations we had when it comes to phone aesthetics. Yes, it is a midrange level smartphone by category, but the overall elegant design clearly spells out the word “premium”. Being crafted out of a single block of aluminum doesn’t only ensure durability, but also gave the phone that sleek, metallic finish that won’t certainly go unnoticed by consumers.

Following the trend of releasing larger smartphones, the Nokia 5 has dimensions of 149.7 x 72.5 x 8.05 mm (8.55 with camera bump). With that being said, we can’t find any fault once we held it in our hands. Its smooth body with curved edges feels great to touch since it doesn’t have any disturbing bumps at the side (even the buttons are not that prominent), and despite its large built –– it is very light and can easily be slipped into any pockets without worrying about the extra bulk.

Unlike the Lumia smartphones of the past which were known for the wide selection of vibrant palettes, the Nokia 5 is available in 4 minimalistic color options (Tempered Blue, Silver, Matte Black, and Copper) – a welcome change that gets along well with its futuristic style.

While the design is way above our expectations, how about the durability? With aluminum as its base material for added strength and display with sculpted Corning® Gorilla® Glass, HMD Global made it sure that the Nokia 5 will remain true to the Nokia legacy of renowned quality.  As promised to their avid fans, the Nokia 5 is a result of “ultimate level of beauty and durability”.

 PERFROMANCE

The Nokia 5 runs on Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 430 1.4 GHz octa-core processor, which ensures faster data processing, as well as smoother apps and games experience with less battery consumption. We were able to test out the device by playing Mobile Legends and Royal Revolt 2 with the highest graphic option and there were only minimal lags with the performance during gameplay. When utilizing apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Skype, the experience is smooth as well with only very slight delays when opening pictures or initializing video calls. It does help with the overall phone experience that the Nokia 5 has a 2GB of RAM, which is important when opening or using multiple apps at the same time.

BATTERY

When it comes to power source, the Nokia 5 has a 3,000 mAh non-removable Li-Ion battery to support the phone functions. With heavy usage and multiple apps opened, the phone lasted longer than we expected – an average of 9 to 10 hours. Having a multi-core processor does help in making the battery life last longer. On standby mode, the Nokia 5 could last around 20 hours before having the need to charge it.

STORAGE

If there is one minor aspect that I’m going to complain about with the Nokia 5, it would be the storage capacity. We expected the device to have at least a minimum storage of 32 GB just like the Nokia 6, but the people behind the creation of the Nokia 5 decided to provide only 16 GB. While the phone has support for external storage – up to 128 GB of microSD card – it would have been great if they opted for a higher internal storage since software updates and pre-installed apps can really take a lot of space before we can even save our own choice of apps and media content. But since this is a hardware-related feature, the best thing we can advise is maximize the external storage and always do back up to avoid losing important files.

OPERATING SYSTEM

With the Nokia brand finally embracing the Android operating system, most of the avid fans will likely think that “it’s about time”. While Nokia smartphones running on Microsoft’s Windows Phone software were amazing devices on their own right, we have to admit that the smartphone market did not fully accept the existence of a third mobile ecosystem, with consumers continuously eyeing either Android or iOS. So the decision of HMD Global to team up with Google for the new batch of Nokia-branded handsets was a welcome and refreshing approach.

The Nokia 5 runs on Android™ 7.1.1 Nougat, with the promise of security and efficient performance through regular software updates. Along with this version of the OS are new features such as the ability to do split-screen view to display multiple apps and support for on-the-spot replies to notifications.

Nokia boasts of the purest form of Android under the hood with a promise of pure, secure and up to date

·         Pure it has no OEM customization and bloatware that can slow down the usage performance that kills battery life. This gives users all freedom to customize and install apps that they’ve always wanted

·         It is secure because of the monthly security updates so no need for an anti-virus software that also consumes battery life.

·         Up to date, this device is packed with always the latest Android. It is running on nougat out of the box and upgradable to Oreo in few weeks’ time. HMD also announced that the full range of Nokia smartphones will also get the Android P update when it’s available.

Being new to Android, there was a need to adapt to the new experience and I was able to embrace it with the help of the Nokia 5.

CAMERA

For the imaging aspect, Nokia 5 has a 13MP phase detection automatic focus (PDAF) rear camera with dual tone flash. The default camera app features two modes: Panorama (for wide landscape shots) and Beautify (for portrait shots). But if you are looking for Lumia-standard camera capabilities, sorry guys! The most sought-after PureView technology won’t be seen in the Nokia 5 as Microsoft still holds its trademark. Carl Zeiss lens were also not utilized here, although having PDAF did work wonders for the smartphone. We might see hope for the Lumia Camera UI, though, as the patent was recently transferred to HMD Global.

Despite the absence of the said innovations, the Nokia 5’s camera still performs pretty well for average use. Colors are represented accurately, the shutter responds fast to the click of the button when taking shots, and automatic focus reacts well in cases of multiple subjects. For video recording, the smartphone works well in capturing accurate details (audio and visual), although we highly suggest to use a tripod and to have more natural lighting available, as the performance tends to decrease during low-light. It’s the same issue when taking photos at night, as the camera fails capture images despite having a decent camera aperture of f/2.0. While the use of flash helps, it tends to make the shots soft and grainy.

It would be a different scenario for the front camera. With an 8MP automatic focus (something that other phones at this price range don’t have), wide-angle camera, the Nokia 5 can capture stunning selfies with or without the Beautify mode. When compared to the Nokia 6, I believe the Nokia 5 took more decent shots with sharper edges and brighter contrasts.

Here are some sample shots from the Nokia 5:

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Based on the review of the Nokia 5, we can now answer the questions that we had during the introductions. Yes, we strongly believe that the Nokia 5 has a high chance of survival in competing with other brands in the local market. With an affordable price tag of PHP 9,990, consumers can get the premium experience offered by a Nokia-branded smartphone without breaking the wallet.

While there are some aspects where the device was lacking, the Nokia 5 offers a great deal as well. It has excellent battery life, support for higher storage, great new features with less clutter thanks to Android Nougat, stunning phone design, and tried-and-tested durability – what more can we ask for? It’s a true smartphone for life, indeed.

And yes, we are so ready for Nokia Android smartphones! With the release of the Nokia 5 and its brothers, we can clearly tell that this was the change that we’ve all been waiting for. With the Nokia brand finally entering the Android market scene, we’re looking forward for better days to come.

Credits to JP Tizon for some of the shots taken from the Nokia 5!

Find out why the #Nokia5 is more than just a pretty smartphone in our in-depth review. The Nokia brand had finally made its comeback to the world of mobile phones thanks to HMD Global.

[jamiekturner]

How I, a designer, learned to code and released an app in 4 months

Okay, I’ll be honest with you right away. The title is a little misleading.

I started learning Swift 4 months before and I knew some coding before that.

But I have never created a native app for any platform. Thinking about it now, I had no idea what I was up against…

For you to understand the how I did it, first I must tell you the why.

Traveling back in time

I always loved computers. My father bought our first machine when I was around 8 years old, and I became hooked in a second. It had a blurry CRT screen and it was running DOS, but it did what you wanted it to do.

That thing was pure magic for God’s sake!

Of course I mostly played games on it but I fell in love with the whole environment. I learned about how a PC worked, turned all the knobs and switches in the programs and became the guy others came to for tech-advice.

Fast forward to 1999. It was the time of 56k dial up modems and ADSL lines. I was still into computers as the Internet started gaining popularity in Hungary. I spent most of my afternoons in the school’s IT room visiting Geocities pages.

It was the beautiful era of <frame> based websites with the dancing baby animgif and I wanted a part of it.

I started learning HTML and created my first website. And since it was ’99 I appropriately named it Zolee Site Millenium. It ran on our school server and was only accessible via a Frankensteinian URL, something like www.kkt.piar.school.gov.hu/~hosszu2 (notice the nice tilde character in there). But I was online, I conquered a little bit of the new promise land called the World Wide Web. It felt amazing.

My love for gaming stuck with me in the following years: I was playing a lot of Counter-Strike. As it became the most popular game, I always had a chance to create a website for my current team.

I loved designing and building pages, but after a while started focusing my efforts on the visuals and usability. The latest trends of web development passed right by me as I learned more and more about pixels and user-experience.

Today I work as a full-time UI designer at a Hungarian agency. I have no experience with the current top frameworks like Node, Angular or Bootstrap. And I’m okay with that.

But I’ve been keeping an eye on HTML, CSS and JavaScript goodies, because I always work on personal projects on the side.

The idea for GAget

In 2011 my website got a huge facelift. The layout got featured on DeviantArt and I felt excited about new users checking it out every day. But I also was really frustrated.

Not because of the number visitors, but because there was no quick way for me to check them. There were two options. I either had to keep fiddling with Google Analytics, or I needed to find a simple app to do the trick for me. That’s what OS X Dashboard widgets are for, I thought, so I started looking around.

But the solutions out there were either too nerdy and ugly or just didn’t give me enough data. So being a designer, I drew up a mockup of what the best solution for me could be and posted the design on Dribbble.

A couple of dozen likes made me dig into the topic a bit more. I found out that widgets were essentially HTML + JavaScript apps, so I started taking it a little more seriously. I mean, these were the two languages I was most familiar with.

The working prototype was running on my Dashboard in a couple of days. I named it GAget [pronounced the same way as gadget] as an acronym for Google Analytics widget. A silly name, but it stuck.

The widget was released about 2 weeks later, in August of 2011.

I stopped updating the bookmarks featuring GAget after a while…

The amount of feedback was stunning: MacStories, SwissMiss and tons of smaller blogs featured GAget. I even had my name printed in the Hungarian version of PC World magazine.

I knew I had to keep working on it.

What to do next?

Today the widget has over 84 thousand downloads and it is being used by thousands weekly. With a friend of mine we even created an iPhone version. So when Apple released Yosemite and discontinued the development of Dashcode, GAget’s future started looking pretty grim.

But as one hand took something away, the other gave something back: Apple opened up the Notification Center for developers to display widgets there. Hope! Maybe the success story of my small widget could continue!

My Instagram post about the new design.

I started reading Apple’s documentation on Today extensions (this is what they call widgets). But it was all native Objective-C code. Ugh! Dealing with a compiler, memory leaks and multi-threaded processes was not what I wanted to do. It sounds scary if you’ve never done it before. But I made up my mind, GAget needed to become a native widget!

My biggest problem was that I had no idea where to start.

The Objective-Struggle

I purchased a book about iPhone development in Objective-C, but gave up after a couple of sections. To be honest, for someone familiar with front-end languages and a bit of PHP, Objective-C looked way too complex. Look at this code:

@​i​n​t​e​r​f​a​c​e​ ​​R​e​m​i​n​d​e​r​V​i​e​w​C​o​n​t​r​o​l​l​e​r​(​)​

@​p​r​o​p​e​r​t​y​ ​(​n​o​n​a​t​o​m​i​c​,​ ​w​e​a​k​)​ ​I​B​O​u​t​l​e​t​ ​U​I​D​a​t​e​P​i​c​k​e​r​ ​*​d​a​t​e​P​i​c​k​e​r​;​

@​e​n​d​

What could an interface, a property be, what does nonatomic or weak mean and what the hell are @ and * doing in there? I understood end though!

https://fat.gfycat.com/DifferentGivingFunnelweaverspider.mp4

The swifter way to code

The tutorials in the book were leading nowhere. After a few weeks of struggle, I didn’t get any closer to a native widget.

Then I remembered that Apple introduced a new programming language called Swift alongside Yosemite. It was new to everyone, so a lot of gurus started writing about it, discussing why it sucked and how you should learn Objective-C before even thinking about touching Swift. All this buzz made me take a look: I downloaded and started reading its documentation.

It felt like a breeze. The code started looking familiar, something like a little complex JavaScript! I fired up Xcode and started copying what people were doing in tutorials.

My main goal was an OS X widget, but most tutorials were focused on Swift itself or iPhone apps so I had to keep searching. I still had a lot of unanswered questions, like:

How can a widget and a containing app communicate? (Core data and app groups)

Can I use hover interaction? (No)

How do I open only one row of the widget while closing the others? (Auto layout and some manual height hacking)

Apple’s one page long documentation on widgets forced me to dig up source codes on GitHub and Stack Overflow and it took me countless hours to figure out the answers.

I collected and published the links I found useful along the way. They might be relevant for you too, in case you’re starting out with iOS or OS X programming.

I managed to find everything I needed and started moving faster than I expected: GAget for Yosemite started to take shape.

MVC, multi-threaded processes, app targets, view controllers and core data meant nothing 4 months ago. But thanks to the tutorials, Stack Overflow and a lot of sleepless nights I managed to learn the bases of Swift and OS X development.

Thanks to 800 people the beta testing was a blast. GAget is now available in the App Store as a designer’s first native application.

What I learned — besides a new programming language

I knew that working on a personal project is awesome long before Swift came along. You get to do whatever you want and you don’t answer to a boss or a client. You can add and remove features any way you like and you work in your own pace.

Deadlines

However, I found that giving yourself a deadline can be extremely motivating. Every New Year’s Eve my wife and I sit down and make a list about the things what we want to achieve in the following year. This time I listed that I want to release the new version of GAget by the end of January: this was my deadline.

Even though I ended up missing it by a month (thanks to Apple’s review process and a few other projects), I was working the hardest in January to check this thing off my list. Having it written down on a piece of paper is a powerful motivator.

The circle of learning

I also discovered that while learning something new there are three phases you cycle through: excitement, struggle and solution.

Excitement phase:you alway start here. You have a new idea and start learning things, everything looks promising and you wonder what you can do next. You feel motivated and you’re experimenting with the stuff you know. But you eventually reach a barrier in your knowledge.

Struggle phase:as you encounter the first real problem your excitement and motivation levels start to plummet. You have no idea what could help you or what to search for. You are desperate: even checking out the 3rd results page in Google for an answer.

Solution phase:Finally! You find the solution to that nasty problem. You move faster than before, and start to feel excited and motivated again. You go back to phase 1.

So next time you start out, remember: the struggle phase might be long and frustrating but the solution is out there. Finding it is part of the fun.

And don’t forget to check out GAget ☺

  The post How I, a designer, learned to code and released an app in 4 months appeared first on Design your way.

from Web Development & Designing http://www.designyourway.net/blog/user-interface-design/designer-learned-code-released-app-4-months/

[weblistposting-blog]

New Post has been published on Weblistposting

New Post has been published on https://weblistposting.com/samsung-galaxy-c7-seasoned-india-release-predicted-today/

Samsung Galaxy C7 Seasoned India Release Predicted Today

Samsung India is all set to Launch a product in New Delhi on Friday, with the enterprise sending invitations for a 12 pm event in advance this week. Even as Samsung did not element what it’ll be launching, the company is Expected to Release the Galaxy C7 Seasoned or the Galaxy C5 Seasoned smartphone within the united states.

The South Korean massive in its occasion invite makes use of the tagline “Lean Is the brand new Imply”. This unluckily is not sufficient indication about what’s being launched, but, the two Galaxy C-series smartphones referred to are simply 7mm thick – giving some credence to the hypothesis. The Galaxy C7 Pro changed into released in China in January this yr, Whilst the Galaxy C5 Pro became launched in China very lately – in March. As a result, it seems probably Samsung will Release the Galaxy C7 Pro in the united states.

The dual-SIM (Nano-SIM) Samsung Galaxy C7 Seasoned is priced at CNY 2,899 (roughly Rs. 27, one hundred) in China. It runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and features a five.7-inch 1080p Exquisite AMOLED display. The telephone is powered by a 2.2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM. The Galaxy C7 Seasoned functions a sixteen-megapixel sensor on each the front and back with f/1.9 aperture. The cameras are capable of recording complete-HD videos at 30 frames in keeping with 2nd. The handset is offered with 64GB of the n-built garage, which is expandable via microSD card (as much as 256GB) in a hybrid twin-SIM configuration.

The cellphone measures 156.5×77.2×7.0mm and weighs 172 grams. The cellphone packs a 3300mAh battery. Moreover, the Galaxy C7 Pro comes with Continually-on display and Samsung Pay.

Evaluating The Samsung Galaxy S2 With The Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The Samsung Galaxy S2 is some of the maximum famous Android smartphones of all time, and truly the most a success smartphone for Samsung. but, this isn’t always their highest spec handset. Together with the Galaxy Word, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has the best specifications when it comes to numerous of its features. In this newsletter I can evaluate some key functions of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus so you can decide that is the better smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus changed into a collaboration among Samsung and Google to exhibit the state-of-the-art v4.0 of Android, dubbed ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’. The Samsung Galaxy S2 however ships with the preceding ‘Gingerbread’ version established. The Galaxy S2 supports an replace to the new version of the software, however because the Nexus changed into the first smartphone to have this version as fashionable, Samsung ensured it has the hardware to do the job.

The display screen is arguably the crowning characteristic of the Galaxy Nexus. Even to nowadays, it has one of the highest resolutions of any phone. At 720x 1280, it is simplest now being matched through more moderen phones. This offers it the capacity to display HD movies in addition to photos and video games it top excellent. The Samsung Galaxy S2 has a qHD display resolution (480x 800), which although brilliant, continues to be ay short of that of the Galaxy Nexus.

In all likelihood the most disappointing function of the Nexus (on paper as a minimum) is its digicam. With a decision of 5 megapixels, it’s far under what you’ll assume from a phone with a today’s working machine and excessive definition screen. Despite its seemingly low resolution, the digicam continues to be able to seize video pictures in 1080p excessive definition, which is a feature shared with the Samsung Galaxy S2, even though this is to be Predicted as the tool has an 8 megapixel digicam.

each handsets are matched on several capabilities; they both have a 1.2GHz dual-center processor, so that you can count on exquisite overall performance from both gadgets. Similarly mind-blowing is their statistics down load speeds when surfing the internet over a g3 connection; at 21 megabytes according to second, they are a number of the quickest web browsing phones to be had.

The Galaxy S2 turned into launched in April 2011, whereas the Galaxy Nexus hit the market in November 2011. By the time the Galaxy Nexus changed into released, momentum had already picked up in income of the Galaxy S2, and is the reason why the Galaxy Nexus became now not as successful, Notwithstanding numerous greater appealing specs. each handsets are top notch in their very own rights although, and whichever you select you’re not going to be disappointed. In case you are in the market for a Samsung telephone even though, it may be worth waiting a touch longer, as their brand new flagship is due for launch later this 12 months. The Galaxy S3 is rumoured to game a 12 megapixel camera and quad-core processor among its key functions and appears set to be certainly one of the largest tech releases of 2012.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Opinions

Before you decide which Samsung tablet you want, you need to study at least one good Samsung Galaxy overview. in relation to the world of capsules, there are few businesses that have gotten a higher reputation for handing over exceptional goods than Samsung. however, the Samsung Galaxy pill, which has a ten.1 inch display, does not come with out a pretty hefty rate tag. At round $500 on Amazon, the Samsung Galaxy overview you read have to provide an explanation for why it is really worth each penny, in any other case you might end up with a product that you don’t actually need.

one of the high-quality perks to the Samsung tablet is that it’s far designed to be rapid. Many pills which are currently in the marketplace don’t have an excessive amount of in phrases of velocity and storage, and as a end result, lag. With a dual middle processor, and 1 GB of RAM, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes with across the identical amount of energy as a netbook, or a low stop computer. maximum capsules on the market don’t have that amount of electricity, and therefore cannot run maximum of the films, track, and applications that the Samsung Galaxy is able to walking. At the side of the speed that allows you to observe streaming films on-line, the Samsung Galaxy also comes like minded with Flash participant. Apple doesn’t actually have this capability.

it is often stated, whether or not in a Galaxy evaluate, or in an Apple iPad evaluation, that no pill Pc is right while not having WiFi competencies. presently, the Galaxy helps 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, and is also Bluetooth well suited. Surfing the net won’t ever be a hassle with the Galaxy. People who’ve used a Samsung Galaxy tablet tend to be amazed at how rapid, how fluid Surfing the net can be. Considering how powerful the processor is, it surely shouldn’t be that a good deal of a marvel.

The Galaxy is an Android-powered tablet, and comes with full access to the Android market. As one of the great pills available on the market, the Galaxy comes fully well suited with Phrase, Excel, get entry to, and lots of different popular media codecs. This OS is specifically designed with multitasking in mind, because of this that you may surf the net Whilst going for walks song on the equal time. The Android Apps market is massive – 200,000 one-of-a-kind apps are to be had for buy, so you will be capable of locate something which you revel in with out too much worry. 32 GB of garage also approach that there might be extra than sufficient area to keep all of your apps without having to add a unique SD card for extra space.

The design is what typically is cited first in most Galaxy Critiques, however it is normally a great concept to save the high-quality for final. So far, the Galaxy has acquired many accolades for its sleek, lightweight design. It has even been in comparison to the iPad. It comes with a built in high definition digicam that may record video, take pics, and be used in video chat. Along with a the front going through digicam, the Galaxy additionally comes with a again-facing camera, that’s perfect for catching unique moments.

Visuals are the first-rate part of the Galaxy’s design. The high decision display screen has drawn compliments from even the most choosy of pill proprietors. At a 1280 by way of 800 pixel in keeping with square inch decision, that is one tablet that is very hard to conquer in terms of excessive definition pics. The excessive decision display makes the 2 and 3 megapixel cameras even greater useful. In spite of everything, being capable of proportion the minute info of a image can most effective be done with high decision screens. it is very difficult to find a 9aaf3f374c58e8c9dcdd1ebf10256fa5 Samsung Galaxy evaluate, or any Samsung Galaxy Critiques in any respect, which do not have some thing wonderful to mention approximately the display’s decision.

Many Humans presently say that the Samsung is one of the nice capsules available on the market. Its amazing layout, effective processing, ample garage, and ultra-modern Android operating gadget sincerely recommend that the Samsung Galaxy Evaluations that say it is the first-rate in the marketplace might be right. Modern and edgy, the Galaxy is one of the very few drugs on the market that does not appear to have any proceedings approximately it. Take the advice from this Galaxy overview – the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a ought to have!

We do the research, you make the choice!honestly hope that the facts provided on this website online will assist you to make an knowledgeable shopping for selection whether or not you are seeking out. Samsung galaxy tab 10.1, Samsung galaxy. Ii or an Samsung galaxy tab 7. With such a lot of unique models and styles of pill to be had it is very perplexing to understand what is ideal and what is junk.